The Philadelphia Phillies have had many big-time sluggers who have delivered for them over the years during the postseason in franchise history. For the most part, their ability to produce the long ball was key in helping the Phillies to succeed in the MLB Playoffs. With that in mind, which Phillies player currently holds the record for the most home runs during a single postseason?
With Kyle Schwarber blasting a team record 12 postseason home runs thus far as a member of the Phillies and 21 overall over his MLB playoff career, one would think that he would hold the distinguished honor. Or perhaps with the outstanding career that star first baseman Bryce Harper has been having, often performing in the clutch in October like he did in Game 2 of the 2024 NLDS, he must be the one to establish the mark.
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Former Phillies outfielder Jayson Werth holds the record for the most home runs in a single postseason
However, it is actually neither of the two offensive juggernauts. In fact, we will have to go back more than a decade to the 2009 MLB Playoffs.
At the time, it was outfielder Jayson Werth who accomplished the feat. He belted seven round-trippers in 15 games during the Phillies' run to the World Series that year. He was an offensive machine that postseason, hitting .275 with a 1.129 OPS, 13 RBI and 13 runs scored.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to propel Philadelphia to their third title as they ended up falling to the New York Yankees 4-2 in the finals. Nevertheless, the playoff home run total that Werth put up in 2009 still stands today.
Player | Year | HR |
|---|---|---|
Jayson Werth | 2009 | 7 |
Lenny Dykstra | 1993 | 6 |
Chase Utley | 2009 | 6 |
Bryce Harper | 2022 | 6 |
Rhys Hoskins | 2022 | 6 |
Kyle Schwarber | 2022 | 6 |
Nick Castellanos | 2023 | 5 |
Bryce Harper | 2023 | 5 |
Kyle Schwarber | 2023 | 5 |
Current Phillies Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber on the leaderboard
Among the five players tied for second with six homers, which includes Lenny Dykstra, Rhys Hoskins and the legendary Chase Utley, two of them happen to be Harper and Schwarber. Both set the mark during the 2022 postseason. They're not the actual top record holder, but aren't too far off of it.
If we take it even further to look at candidates with five homers during a single Phillies playoff run, we find Harper and Schwarber right there once again, this time joined by fellow teammate Nick Castellanos. All of them achieved it during last year’s playoffs.
So even though the Phillies franchise has been in existence for over 140 years, most of their top potent power producers in the playoffs have come mainly within the past 15 years. More importantly, three of those top hitters are on this year’s Phillies playoff roster.
Hopefully the dynamic trio of Harper, Schwarber and Castellanos can continue to add their names to that home run leaderboard in this year’s playoffs. So far, we can tack one onto the home run counter for each. At this rate, It could potentially play a huge role in helping the Phillies capture their third World Series championship in franchise history.