Bryce Harper says he feels like he let the Phillies and city of Philadelphia down in heartbreaking postgame quote
Bryce Harper isn’t the reason the Philadelphia Phillies season ends on Sunday.
In fact, he’s one of the only reasons the Phillies were relevant this late in the season. His .615 slugging percentage and 1.043 OPS lead all of MLB, as do his 41 doubles, a new career-high. He’s hit 35 home runs, tied for the second-most of his career.
While it’s true that Harper struggled during the crucial make-or-break series against the Atlanta Braves that ended the Phillies season earlier this week, the series would not have even mattered had Harper not been stepping up all season.
Without his offensive power, the Phillies wouldn’t even have been relevant by the time this series arrived. In 27 games in September, Harper slashed .303/.452/.663 with a 1.115 OPS, eight doubles, eight home runs, 19 RBI, and 20 runs scored. He walked (25) almost as much as he struck out (27).
Overall, he’s hitting .308/.428/.615 with the aforementioned astronomical OPS. Among all MLB batters, Harper is tied for third in fWAR (6.5) and second in WPA (4.71) behind Shohei Ohtani (5.12). He leads all offensive players with a 170 wRC+ and .431 wOBA. The MVP comments have become so rampant that Harper told Sports Illustrated he turned off his Instagram comments so he could stay hungry:
"“I like stuff that gets me going more. Makes me work and makes me the best version of myself.I just want to win. That’s all I want to do.”"
After going hitless in the Braves series, he went 3-for-5 with a double and a home run in Friday night’s game against the Marlins. Postgame, he addressed his struggles in the Braves series, and gave reporters a heartbreaking soundbite:
"“On a personal note, after those three games, I felt like I let my team down. It felt like I let the city of Philadelphia down.”"
Bryce Harper on Phillies missing playoffs
— Jeff Skversky (@JeffSkversky) October 2, 2021
“I felt like I let my team down, I let the city of Philadelphia down”#BryceHarper
“When I signed up to play here, I wasn’t worried about winning seasons… you build it to be great”#Phillies pic.twitter.com/94dQgSuf04
Bryce Harper has made history for the Phillies all season long
As NBC Sports’ Corey Seidman noted during Friday night’s game, Harper’s 41 doubles, 35 home runs, 84 RBI, 100 runs scored, and 99 walks are numbers no player has matched since Albert Pujols in 2009. He’s the first MLB outfielder to put up these numbers since Barry Bonds in 1998, and the first player in Phillies franchise history.
The Phillies outfielder did all of this despite spending part of the first half of the season dealing with recurring injuries and getting hit in the face got with a 97-mph fastball in late April. He’s also one of three players in MLB history with 200 home runs, 100 stolen bases, and 800 walks through his age-28 season; Mike Trout and Mickey Mantle are the other two.
Harper’s numbers against teams under .500 are higher than teams above it, but that’s kind of the point. Better teams are harder to hit. And his numbers in 56 games against those tougher teams are still more than solid: .277/.401/.487, a .888 OPS.
As Harper noted, this is the Phillies’ first winning season since their division title in 2011. It’s ironic that their first season above .500 is also the one that cemented a full decade without postseason play. But a winning season is progress and something to build upon for next year. It’s why Harper chose to be here for the long haul:
"“I’m not going anywhere, and I love that feeling. I’m a Philadelphia Phillie and I love that. I love being able to say that. And I can say that for a long time… My kids are going to grow up in Philadelphia. In this ballpark. I love coming to this ballpark. It makes me happy just thinking about.”"
Not reaching the postseason for a full decade hurts, but it doesn’t cancel out Harper’s amazing season. While there is plenty of blame to go around, almost none of it falls on him.