Ejecting It Out of the Park – Bryce Harper’s Huge 3-Run Homer Restarts the Phillies’ Historic Reign a Day After His Shocking Ejection

With the kind of attention that the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees get, one would imagine that they’d be ruling the roost in the MLB. However, that is not the case this year. There’s another team currently on a historical run. A team that has remained in the shadows, but once someone hears its name, everything suddenly clicks. “Of course, it’s the Philadelphia Phillies! Obviously, it’s Bryce Harper’s Fightin’ Phils!” 

With a 38-15 record, the Phillies stand head and shoulders above the rest of the major leagues. Yes, the Yankees have 37 wins, but they’ve played more games. The utter dominance shown by the Fightin’ Phils has been a sight to behold. And if one has missed what the Phillies have been doing, yesterday’s game against the Colorado Rockies can be used as a crash course in everything the City of Brotherly Love’s favorite team stands for.

The Phillies entered this game on the back of a disappointing eleventh-inning loss to the Rockies a day before. Even though Bryce Harper’s first-inning RBI hit opened up the scoreline, the Phils soon fell behind. By the end of the 4th inning, the Phillies were trailing the Rockies 1-3, but then, like always, their bats came to life. For Bryce Harper, things couldn’t have gone any better after his controversial ejection in the previous game.

But while Harper’s epic 3-run homer ended the Rockies’ hopes, he wasn’t the sole hero of this epic 8-4 win. It was the Philadelphia Phillies’ depth players, Edmund Sosa and Garret Stubbs, who rose to the occasion to give the Phils much-needed breathing space. And when your depth players turn into game-changers, you know things are going well.

For the Phillies, this is just another reminder of the ridiculous depth that the team has. As for the opponents, it shows that this team is once again aiming to play in the NLCS for the third year in a row.

Bryce Harper’s heroics get ample support from the Philadelphia Phillies staff. 

While Bryce Harper’s 3-run homer in the ninth inning showed why he’s Mr. Phillies, as Garret Stubbs noted, the team is filled with game-changers. “Everybody’s a superstar on this team,” Stubbs said, per MLB.com. “It’s fun to watch.” While it was special for him, for Sosa, this was another moment where he proved himself. The slugger has been playing in place of the injured Trea Turner, and this was one of his rare starts this season.

“Obviously, when Trea’s injury happened, it was something we weren’t expecting,” Sosa said. “It caught the club by surprise. But I was focused; I was preparing myself every day. And this opportunity to play comes, and I have to seize it.” Certainly, with a 2.2 fWAR and a.682 slugging percentage (since Turner’s injury), Sosa is more than seizing this chance. As for the Philadelphia Phillies? Well! Perhaps it’s time to pay attention to this group of superstars.