NLCS MVP Bryce Harper’s homer lifts Phillies to the World Series vs. the Astros

Ron Harper stood on the grass at Citizens Bank Park, in the middle of it all. His youngest son, the prince of the city, had just held the National League championship trophy over his head after slugging the Phillies to their first pennant in 13 years.

“It might be the best thing I’ve ever seen,” the proud father said Sunday evening. “It’s pretty cool. It was a great, great moment.”

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They’ve played major league baseball in Philadelphia for 140 years, and this moment — Bryce Harper, $330 million man, face of the franchise, banging a two-run homer in the eighth inning of Game 5 of the NL Championship Series — will be talked about for the next 140.

It was incredible and entirely predictable at the same time. It made billionaire owner/fan-in-chief John Middleton shout, “Please stay up, please stay up,” as the ball arced toward the left-field bleachers. And when it landed, it sent Phillies first baseman Rhys Hoskins, a 240-pound mass of nervous energy, vaulting over the dugout railing.

Oh, and it gave the Phillies the lead en route to a 4-3 victory over the San Diego Padres and caused 45,485 screaming, towel-waving fans to lose their collective mind.

The Phillies are going to the World Series.

Really.

Now, go ahead and pinch yourself.

“We all think in our backyards, it’s the World Series, right?” said Harper, who was named NLCS MVP. “Bottom of the ninth, bases loaded, 3-2 count, best pitcher on the mound in the World Series. You dream about it, but also you dream about that next step. So, I’m looking forward to that next one.”

Next up: Game 1 of the 118th World Series on Friday night in Houston. The Astros won the American League pennant late Sunday night by completing a sweep of the New York Yankees.

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After starting 22-29 and firing their manager in June, winning 87 games in the regular season, and claiming the NL’s sixth and final playoff berth, the Phillies swept the St. Louis Cardinals in the best-of-three wild-card round, blitzed the 101-win Atlanta Braves in the best-of-five divisional round, and ousted the upstart Padres, four games to one, in the best-of-seven NL Championship Series.

They won the NLCS through a steady rain that muddied the field. They overcame three wild pitches in the seventh inning by reliever Seranthony Domínguez, who threw three wild pitches all season. They leaned on ace Zack Wheeler and got another two-run homer from scorching-hot Hoskins. They asked starter Ranger Suárez to close it out by getting the final two outs.

But when it mattered most, when they needed a big swing to avoid a cross-country flight to San Diego for a Game 6 on Monday night, the Phillies turned to their biggest star.

And he didn’t disappoint.

Harper never disappoints.

“You can’t write that,” Wheeler said. “He’s a showman. That’s Harp. He just has that in him where he just steps up in big moments. I don’t know. He’s always been a dude.”

For weeks, Harper has been the best hitter on the planet. He’s batting .419 (18-for-43) in the playoffs, with five home runs and 11 RBIs. The homer that slayed the Padres was his 18th hit and 11th extra-base hit, both Phillies postseason records. He has a 10-game hitting streak, tied with Lenny Dykstra in 1993 for the club postseason record.

Harper also has been walking around the clubhouse before games like a man possessed, telling teammates, “We ain’t losing tonight.” Then, he wills them to win. Over and over again.

After his two-run double put them ahead in a wild Game 4, he stood on second base and shouted, “This is my [bleeping] house.” Then, in the eighth inning of Game 5, Harper walked up the steps of the dugout and said to hitting coach Kevin Long, “Let’s give them something to remember.”

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And then he did.

“He wants to win as bad as anybody else in the world,” manager Rob Thomson said. “When the moment hits, he doesn’t get caught up in it. He can relax and he goes and does his job. I saw a lot of years of [Derek] Jeter doing the same thing. Their heart doesn’t speed up as much as the guy that’s throwing to them.”

Pressure? That’s the other guy’s problem. So, with Padres manager Bob Melvin deciding to stick with setup man Robert Suarez rather than turning to lefty closer Josh Hader, Harper calmly fouled off three consecutive pitches before crushing a 98.5 mph sinker.

“Never a doubt,” Kyle Schwarber said, stogie dangling from his left hand in a sudsy clubhouse. “No, I did not know he was going to do that. But the way he’s been swinging the bat, the way his at-bats have been, unbelievable. That swing, I mean, fantastic.”

Everything lined up for a pennant-clinching party in South Philly. Wheeler took the mound on regular rest. Domínguez and José Alvarado were ready in the bullpen after not pitching in Game 4.

The weather even seemed to cooperate, at least at the outset, with the rain lightening up enough for an on-time start.

Wheeler dazzled, as usual and especially in this postseason. He uncorked the fastest pitch of his career, a 99.5 mph heater to Jurickson Profar in the first inning, and cracked 99 mph five times, including three consecutive pitches to Manny Machado.

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But it was never going to be as easy as sending out the ace and getting the Padres to roll over.

As Wheeler mowed down the first 10 batters, Hoskins jumped on a get-me-over 3-0 cutter from Yu Darvish, rocketed it into the left-field seats for his third two-run homer in two games, and helicoptered his bat as he screamed into the dugout.

That was all the Phillies got against Darvish. The Padres tied it in the seventh inning on Josh Bell’s RBI double, then pushed across another run on the second wild pitch of the inning. The teams’ planes were revving up for return trips to California.

But then J.T. Realmuto singled and Harper stepped to the plate.

“I hit the ball and just looked at my dugout and it’s for all of them,” Harper said. “It’s for this whole team. It’s for this whole organization. We haven’t been here for a long time. It’s for every single fan that’s here now and that isn’t here. It’s for all of them.”

By nightfall, they all wanted to wrap their arms around Harper. He got a hug after the game from actor Miles Teller. Also from Middleton as they stood together on the stage to receive the championship trophy.

“All the things we thought he was have turned out to be true,” Middleton said. “There are no disappointments. Sometimes you go through that process, you think you understand somebody, and what you really get is a little bit different. There’s nothing different with Bryce. He’s just committed to winning. He’ll do whatever it takes.”

Two months ago, that meant bringing his father to Philadelphia to throw batting practice to him in the final stage of his recovery from a broken left thumb. Alone together in empty Citizens Bank Park, they never talked about a moment like this.

Maybe it’s because they knew it could happen.

“We just were trying to get him back on the field as soon as possible so if they were lucky enough to get their foot in the door, maybe they could kick it open a little bit,” Ron Harper said. “So far, so good.”

The Phillies are going to the World Series. Harper owns the town.

Does it get any better?