Just before the start of the postseason, CBS Sports came up with a list of the top 25 players in the 2025 MLB Playoffs. The Philadelphia Phillies saw three of their players make the distinguished list in pitchers Ranger Suárez (No. 23), Kyle Schwarber (No. 13) and Cristopher Sánchez (No. 5).
However, many Phillies fans were likely livid that CBS Sports' Dayn Perry left one of the best players on the team off the list: star first baseman Bryce Harper.
All Harper has on his prestigious professional baseball resume is a National League Rookie of the Year Award, two NL MVP Awards and four Silver Slugger Awards, while being an All-Star a whopping eight times in his 14-year MLB career.
Despite his postseason resume, Bryce Harper struggled for Phillies in 2025 NLDS
The 32-year-old superstar had also been a consistent offensive force in the postseason, posting a .280 average, 1.016 OPS, with 41 runs scored, 13 doubles, 17 home runs, 34 RBIs and eight stolen bases in 53 career playoff games before 2025. He also created the unforgettable "Bedlam at the Bank" moment (subscription required) during the 2023 NLCS.
So to say that he isn’t among the top 25 playoff performers seemed like just a slight insult to his well-established pedigree.
However, after seeing how things unfolded for Harper and the Phillies this postseason, his questionable omission from the list appears far less dubious now. Not only did Philadelphia and their prolific offense falter for the most part in their four games against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS, Harper failed to show up this time around when the team needed him most.
He had just a .200 average and a .600 OPS with just one run scored, along with no home runs and RBIs over the four games. More significantly, in the five times that Harper came to the plate with runners on base (four times with a runner in scoring position) he came up empty every single time, going 0-for-5 with a strikeout.
So whatever method CBS Sports utilized to come up with the list without Harper, it must have relied on a gut feeling that he wouldn’t come through for the Phillies this year when it mattered most. With the unthinkable early playoff exit and Harper's results, it appears as though they were spot-on with their prediction.
Stars can be stars during the regular season, but they instantly become heroes in the postseason when they deliver in the biggest moments. For the Phillies to have any playoff success, they will need Harper to be at his very best all the time to get the job done. For someone who practically has all the accolades in his vaunted career, he will need to raise his postseason game to capture the one thing that has eluded him to date: a World Series championship.