Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper recently joined the The Phillies Show podcast and made some comments that will get fans even more excited than the team’s 44-19 record. Is that even possible?
We know all the accolades Harper has received in his career. With seven All-Star appearances, a pair of MVPs, three Silver Sluggers, an NLCS MVP and a Rookie of the Year, he already has an impressively full trophy case.
There’s one trophy he’s missing, however. For all his accomplishments, the one prize that has eluded his grasp is the World Series.
Bryce Harper’s World Series comments will excite Phillies fans even more for October
When Harper joined Ruben Amaro Jr., Jim Salisbury and Todd Zolecki on the podcast this week, he spoke about his accomplishments and how they compare to his ultimate goal.
"Those are the things (winning a World Series) that you want to do with your team because those are the cool moments in the game," Harper said. "Obviously, MVPs, Silver Sluggers, Gold Gloves, that's all really cool stuff individually and I would never take that for granted, I love those things, I'm not going to say I don't like that.
"But at the end of the day, if I look back at my career and you don't have a World Series, it's kind of like, 'Man, that's the one, right?' That's what you want as a team, that's what you want as an organization, and that's what I want."
This isn't a new sentiment for the 31-year-old. It was one of the first things he talked about when he arrived in Clearwater for the Phillies' training camp in February.
Maybe nobody believed as much as Harper did before the season started. But with the way things have gone so far this year, it hasn't taken long for fans to fully buy-in. Philly has embraced this team as a city with the best record in MLB should.
Unlike 2023, the Phillies aren't waiting around to make a run at the end of the season. They have been the best team in the league since about the second or third week of April and have given themselves a nice cushion in the NL East.
All Bryce Harper is playing for is to win a World Series
Apparently, it's not just the fans who are already looking ahead to October and the possibilities awaiting this special group of players and coaches.
"As I drove down the street you see a lot of Phillies gear, a lot of people wearing their stuff," Harper said. "I said to Kayla (Harper's wife) this morning and I said 'Man, what it would be like to win a World Series, what an incredible thing it would be like.'
"Just telling her that, just saying that to her, it makes it that much more, like you just want it. I think as a team right now, that's all we want. I mean, if you're not playing this game for that then I don't know what you're playing it for because there's no greater thing that you can do for a city or an organization than to bring back a World Series."
Harper and the Phillies have plenty of baseball left ahead of them, including the international showcase London Series this weekend. While nothing is guaranteed, they've set themselves up nicely for a chance to make another deep postseason run. Even if they play .500 ball for the rest of the season, they'll finish with a 94-68 record, which will be plenty good enough for a playoff berth.
It's exciting to hear the usually stoic superstar so open and dreaming about winning the World Series. What a party it will be if Harper can make his dream a reality and carry the World Series trophy down Broad Street in November.
As excited as Harper is, he can't even begin to fathom what it would be like to win a World Series in Philadelphia.
"I couldn't imagine you know sharing it with a city this big and this great."
We can imagine.