Can Phillies succeed in postseason if Bryce Harper isn't hitting home runs?

October is right around the corner at Citizens Bank Park. The anticipation of postseason baseball has been felt year-round this year with CBP selling out night after night. The Philadelphia Phillies have maintained a comfortable NL East lead and look to secure their first division title in 13 years.

Like any major league team, there's been issues along the way. The Phillies have had injury woes sprinkled throughout the season. Multiple IL stints have limited the Phillies offensively along with the back end of the rotation being a revolving door. The team is patiently awaiting players currently recovering including Alec Bohm, Austin Hays and most recently Kyle Schwarber.

Can Phillies succeed in postseason if Bryce Harper isn't hitting home runs?

Bryce Harper's power has been a cheat code in the playoffs for the Phillies. This season will mark his third consecutive appearance in October. The home run ball has been an enormous part of his game. With his nagging wrist and elbow issue, there is a risk of getting a reduced version of Harper when it matters most.

The right wrist issue was brought to light as an ongoing issuing stemming back to May while the addition of a bum elbow recently just surfaced, per MLB.com's Todd Zolecki. Occasionally, Harper will pull off on a swing or shake out his arm to relieve it, but it noticeably causes him pain. One major question was, could it affect his power? Well, it seems to have zapped a lot of it.

Harper's last home run came over a month ago on Aug. 9. The contact off Harper's bat reflected a lack of power with an increase in ground ball rate. Speculation only grew as the homerless drought continued.

The good news is that even with Harper's power outage and nagging injury, the production has surprisingly remained. In his last 20 games, Harper is slashing .373/.440/.533 with a solid .974 OPS and 12 doubles with no home runs or triples to account for. If Harper stays on this tear, watch out for when the home run power returns. Tuesday night showed that Harper couldn't get any closer to breaking the streak than after an initial home run was called back after fan interference (subscription required), per Lochlahn March of The Philadelphia Inquirer.

This push for "Red October" is just as important as when the run started. If Harper's wrist and elbow are maintainable and his power is able to creep back, his newfound approach could make Harper even more dangerous in the postseason than years prior.