Bryce Harper one step away from winning a title after Team USA tops Dominican Republic to reach WBC final
Harper interrupted a 3-for-21, eight-strikeout hibernation with a hustle double in the third inning. Next up: the winner of Italy vs. Venezuela for the World Baseball Classic title.
MIAMI — Let it be said, here and now and every day of his 15th major league season, that Bryce Harper needs to win the World Series more than any player in baseball.
Not much he can do about that until October.
Right now, though, there’s another prize dangling in front of the Phillies star. And it’s as close as can be after the most talented roster of Americans ever assembled eked out a 2-1 nail-biter Sunday night against the muscle-flexing Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic semifinal.
“I mean, that’s two juggernauts going at it right there,” Harper said after chest-bumping shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. in celebration of a controversial called third strike to end the game. “I think fans of baseball and all over the world watched this game tonight and had a blast watching it, right?”
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So, Team USA — with Harper, Kyle Schwarber, and reliever Brad Keller on loan from the Phillies — will stay together another couple of days and face Venezuela or upstart Italy in the final here Tuesday night.
U.S. vs. D.R. was every bit the “spectacle” that American manager Mark DeRosa predicted, leaving a pro-Dominican and ear-splittingly noisy sellout crowd of 36,337 screaming until the very end.
Gunnar Henderson and Roman Anthony — 24 and 21 years old, respectively — hit solo homers in a three-batter span of the fourth inning for Team USA, which got one hit thereafter. A loud Dominican lineup was finally shushed, save for Junior Caminero’s solo homer in the second inning, by Paul Skenes and five relievers.
At times, it felt like a skills competition. Clothes could’ve hung on Captain America Aaron Judge’s throw from right field to cut down Fernando Tatís Jr. at third base in the third inning. In the fifth, Dominican center fielder Julio Rodríguez leaped at the wall to rob Judge of a homer.
“That was high-level baseball at its finest,” DeRosa said. “There was just so much talent on the field, both sides. Just a game we’ll remember forever.”
Years from now, with the benefit of perspective, Harper might be able to place it among his biggest victories. But another one Tuesday night would surely be significant.
Harper, 33, has played in the majors for nearly half his life and been to the playoffs in eight seasons, including the last four with the Phillies. The closest he’s come to a championship was Game 6 of the World Series in 2022. The Nationals, his first team, won it all in 2019, the year he left for the Phillies.
This isn’t football or basketball, where an elite quarterback or a prolific shooter can dictate the results all the way to a title. In baseball, the best player on the field bats only four or five times a game. It’s more difficult to single-handedly influence the outcome.
But lesser athletes than Harper in professional sports have been branded for not winning the big one. It’s the missing line in his future-Hall of Fame biography.
And Harper has been as cold as this Philly winter for most of this two-week tournament. DeRosa left him in the No. 2 spot in the order, protected by Judge, and Harper interrupted a 3-for-21, eight-strikeout hibernation with a hustle double against Dominican starter Luis Severino in the third inning.
In the fifth, Harper pumped his right arm after taking the throw from Witt to complete a rally-killing double play, an outward sign of how much every out meant to American players who are typically more reserved on the field than the festive Dominicans.
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“I can’t dance a lick like Tatís can,“ Harper said before the game, referencing the D.R.’s right fielder, ”but I have fun playing this game.”
Harper was downright playful during a pregame news conference with Judge and Witt. A few highlights:
Asked about the expectation of a boisterous crowd in Miami, Harper deferred to Witt, the Royals star. “Bobby, you take it,” he said, “because it’s probably going to feel like Kansas City tonight.”
Judge mentioned that he was so excited for the showdown with the D.R. that he took swings at the air in his hotel room Saturday night. When a reporter asked a follow-up, Harper interjected, “You don’t talk in the microphone in front of the mirror before you come here? I mean, come on, man.”
And in response to a question directed at all three players about how the U.S. could possibly silence a Dominican lineup that set a tournament record with 15 homers in six games, Harper said, “Oh, Paul Skenes is going to be the stopper.”
Skenes recorded 13 outs in 71 pitches before reaching his pitch limit in preparation for the season with the Pirates. But relievers Tyler Rogers, Griffin Jax, David Bednar, Garrett Whitlock, and closer Mason Miller passed the baton for 14 outs.
Miller struck out D.R. shortstop Geraldo Perdomo looking for the last out on a slider that was clearly below the strike zone. But the WBC isn’t using the automated ball-strike system that will be instituted in the majors this season.
“I didn’t even see it,” Harper said. “He called strike three. That’s all I care about.”
That, and one more victory before he rejoins the Phillies.
It won’t be the World Series. But for a championship-starved face of the sport, it wouldn’t be a bad start.
Hunter Pence's 368-day stint with the Phillies was a study in extremes. Acquired at the trade deadline in 2011 as the missing right-handed bat for a World Series contender, he got dealt a year later by an underachieving team. And with the Phillies in full-on crisis mode this week, Pence sits down with "Phillies Extra," the Inquirer's baseball podcast, to discuss how quickly a team's fortunes can change. Watch here.
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