It’s safe to say that the Philadelphia Phillies are currently the team to beat in the National League. Though their pitching staff has been hailed as the architects of this rise, the hitters haven’t been far behind either. Most importantly, while Bryce Harper’s having another MVP season, Alec Bohm too is pulling his weight. And that has given rise to a friendly rivalry of sorts between the two Phillies stars.

On June 24, the Phils beat the Detroit Tigers 8-1. While winning by such huge margins has become a habit of sorts for the Phillies, this game also gave a glimpse of the utter dominance that’s being enjoyed by their dynamic duo. All 8 of the Phillies’ runs came from the hits of Harper (5 RBI) and Bohm (3 RBI). That gave top NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Ricky Bottalico another proof of what he had been feeling for a long time: the duo is competing against each other

“I talk about the starting pitching, how they try to outdo each other. I feel like that’s what’s happening,” Bottalico said about the Phillies’ duo. “There’s a morphing of these two guys trying to one-up each other… You think about a bunch of RBI these two guys accounted for eight RBI in this game alone!” Bottalico’s point certainly makes sense.

The Philadelphia Phillies have scored 398 runs in the league so far. Out of them, Harper accounts for 56 RBI and Bohm has 64 RBI. So in total, of the 398 runs scored by the Phils, Harper and Bohm’s bats were responsible for a staggering 120 of them. That’s almost 1/3 of the total runs scored. It certainly looks like the two are competing and actually improving each other. 

And that has made the MVP race a lot more interesting. The Dodgers’ Mookie Betts’ exit had already opened up the competition. Now Bryce Harper and Alec Bohm both have improved their chances of winning that award.

Shohei Ohtani’s road gets tougher due to Bryce Harper’s explosive rise

According to Fox Sports, Shohei Ohtani with -120 odds, is a favorite to win the NL MVP award. If that happens, he’d be the first DH in history to win that prize. But then, Bryce Harper has quickly climbed up the ranks and is now second with +190 odds. Harper’s performance as a First Baseman could be a big advantage for him in the long run. On top of that, the superstar is going through a monstrous form.

With 19 Home runs scored, Harper’s 2024 is shaping up to be one for the ages. However, Shohei Ohtani’s recent humongous run has shown that there’s a lot of gas left in his tank. Alec Bohm too has found himself on the list but he doesn’t seem to be a threat (yet). However, with a slash line of .313/.366/.507/.730, if Bohm keeps up, one can imagine he’d take at least a few votes from Harper.

However, one wonders if Harper would have an issue with it. Especially if this means another NLCS appearance and a possible World Series contention for the Phillies. The City of Brotherly Love is surely looking lively right now.