Ranking the Phillies’ most majestic home runs in the last two postseasons

Entering Thursday’s Game 3 of the National League Championship Series, the Phillies have hit more than 17,000 feet worth of home runs in their last two postseason runs – or about 3.24 miles. Not bad for 25 games.

They’ve slugged 24 that have gone at least 400 feet, and 28 of their 43 total homers have had an exit velocity of at least 105 miles per hour.

They’ve hit 19 homers in eight games this season, after banging 24 in 17 playoff games in 2022.

Here then are the top 10 most majestic home runs in the 2022-23 playoffs for the Phils.

Opposing pitcher: Zac Gallen, Diamondbacks

Fun stuff: Schwarber deposited the first pitch of the game from Gallen, a Bishop Eustace alum. … It was Schwarber’s fourth postseason leadoff home run, breaking the record he previously shared with Jimmy Rollins and Derek Jeter. … The exit velocity of 117.1 mph is the second-fastest of any of the 43 home runs the Phillies have hit the last two postseasons. The quickest to leave the yard also was hit by Schwarber (see below).

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Opposing pitcher: Zac Gallen, Diamondbacks

Fun stuff: The home run was Harper’s 10th in the playoffs as a Phillie (in 24 games) and moved him one behind Jayson Werth (11 in 40 games) for the all-time club record. … Harper (31 years old) became just the fourth player ever to hit a postseason home run on his birthday. Kolten Wong (2015), Evan Longoria (2013) and Willie Aikens (1980) are the others. Aikens homered twice off the Phillies’ Bob Walk in Game 1 of the World Series that year.

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Opposing pitcher: Merrill Kelly, Diamondbacks

Fun stuff: Turner, the second Phillies batter of the game, set the tone for the 10-0 rout with a first-inning home run. … Turner had been 9-for-21 off Kelly (.429), but this was his first home run. … Entering Thursday, Turner was 15-for-30 in his first eight postseason games as a Phillie with three homers and an OPS of 1.525. He had three homers in 43 postseason games with the Nationals and Dodgers.

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Opposing pitcher: Yu Darvish, Padres

Fun stuff: Not the only appearance Darvish will make on this list, unfortunately for him. … This was the first of two homers for the Phillies in this game, which clinched their first World Series berth in 13 years. The second, mentioned below, is one of the great bombs in team history. … Hoskins, a fifth-round pick of the Phillies in 2014, is one of the most popular players in the clubhouse. … “Yeah, I’ve done a lot of losing here,” Hoskins said afterward. “There’s been a lot of heartbreak late in the [2022] season. … But it’s just the belief that we have in each other, the belief that we have in everybody within the organization that gets us ready to go play the game.” … Hoskins’ bat-slam home run in Game 3 of the 2022 NLDS certainly was dramatic, but that ball traveled “just” 394 feet and did not make this list. Sorry, them’s the rules.

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Opposing pitcher: Merrill Kelly, Diamondbacks

Fun stuff: Schwarber is all over this list, which includes the second of the two bombs he hit Tuesday night. Schwarber had three homers in the first two games of this series, after going 4-for-25 with zero home runs in the first two rounds of these playoffs. He did the same thing last year… “When he’s red-hot, there’s nothing you can throw that he can’t hit out,” said TBS analyst Ron Darling, who pitched in the majors for 13 years.

Opposing pitcher: Luis Garcia, Padres

Fun stuff: Schwarber, who was a horrific 1-for-20 in the first two playoff rounds, banged his third homer in four games with this blast. His knack for going from ice cold to ridiculously dangerous is uncanny. … Garcia pitched six seasons for the Phillies (2013-18).

Opposing pitcher: Miles Mikolas, Cardinals

Fun stuff: Harper’s first postseason home run as a Phillie stands as his longest – for now. Harper drilled the first pitch he saw that day, a leadoff shot in the second inning that was all the offense the Phillies would need. As columnist David Murphy noted, the ball traveled 435 feet, but they “should measure it in decibels.” … Aaron Nola (6.2 IP) and three relievers would do the rest in the Phillies’ 2-0 victory, and the club’s first series win in 12 years. … Two weeks later, Harper hit the most dramatic home run of his career (again, for now) when he put the Phillies in the World Series with a blast off Padres right-hander Robert Suarez, which went 382 feet.

Opposing pitcher: Lance McCullers Jr., Astros

Fun stuff: The Phillies hit five home runs on this night. As columnist Mike Sielski described, “Bryce Harper’s [was] the most electrifying but Schwarber’s the longest, 443 feet to dead center field, blasting through trees and ivy and thudding against the Citizens Bank Park batter’s eye.” … No one could know that after the rousing 7-0 win, the Phillies would be no-hit the following night and in fact not win a game the rest of the series.

» READ MORE: Merrill Kelly and the Diamondbacks weren’t ready for Red October

Opposing pitcher: AJ Smith-Shawver, Braves

Fun stuff: The Phillies hit six home runs in the 10-2 win, tying the single-game playoff record first set by the 2015 Cubs. … Castellanos’ second home run of the game was a blast that came with the Phillies already up 8-2. But this was about making a statement to the 104-win Braves, who were chirping after beating the Phils in Game 2. … Castellanos struggled in the 2022 playoffs, but had his 10-year-old son in the stands on this night for the first time in about a month. “I think I perform the best when my mind and my body are in the same exact place,” Castellanos said. “I think when Liam is here, I’m extremely present because I’m not worrying about anything else.”

Opposing pitcher: Yu Darvish, Padres

Fun stuff: Schwarber has two homers in nine postseason plate appearances against Darvish, but zero homers in nine PAs during the regular season. … It was the longest home run of his career, and one of the quickest exit velocities (119.7 mph) of the Statcast Era (since 2015). … “I thought [the ball] got pretty small pretty fast,” Harper observed. “I’ve never seen a ball go up in that section of Petco Park. Just very impressive. Just wow.”

Source: Inquirer research, MLB.com