‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
Seventy minutes after hitting the most important home run of his life Sunday, a two-run blast that won the Philadelphia Phillies the National League Championship Series, Bryce Harper was at the center of the clubhouse, surrounded by his teammates as beer and champagne soaked anyone within spraying range.
“Give me all of it, give me all of it,” the series MVP shouted to his teammates. His wish was instantly granted, as beer poured down on him from every direction.
Harper’s place in the middle of the celebration was only fitting, as was the fact that he manufactured the moment that sent his Phillies to the World Series. He has been the face of the franchise since the 2019 day he committed to the city for 13 years after owner John Middleton wrote a $330 million check to bring him to Philadelphia.
Despite plenty of moments when he might have doubted he made the right choice in leaving Washington for Philadelphia as a free agent, Harper has always embraced his new home. Even when his old team, the Washington Nationals, won the World Series in 2019. Even when Philadelphia changed GMs and managers more than once during a turbulent first four years with the franchise — including when Rob Thomson took over for Joe Girardi after a 22-29 start this season.
“I don’t like looking back,” Harper said after the game, with his MVP trophy sitting next to him. “I like looking forward and moving forward. This game is ‘what have you done for me lately?'”
He never lost faith, always believing what Middleton had promised him: The organization would always put winning above all else.
Not long after the Sunday home run, owner and star met on the field amid celebratory chaos. Their hug lasted longer than the flight of the ball — which left the playing field at 108.9 mph. Middleton was asked if the embrace meant something extra special.
“You bet it did,” he said. “$330 million later, and mutual promises of being committed to winning and doing whatever it took to win. He did that.”
The home run that sent Philadelphia back to the World Series for the first time since 2009 justified the Phillies’ spending on Harper, as well as the free agent deals this spring that brought in Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos — both of whom had front-row views of Harper’s blast; Schwarber from the dugout, and Castellanos from the on-deck circle. “It looked like I was having an exorcism on the dugout rail,” Schwarber said in a beer-soaked locker room. “Man, he’s nasty.”
Castellanos marveled at how different the celebration felt from when Harper had hit a walk-off home run against Castellanos’ Cubs three years earlier.
“The way he ran around the bases [in 2019] was crazy and energetic,” Castellanos said. “Tonight, he was the calmest person in the stadium. I think that’s a lot of growth on his part.
“Watching him [tonight] was a big lesson for me. The way he was able to immerse himself in the moment and stay focused and calm was f—ing incredible. Please use those exact words.”
This clubhouse littered with empty bottles of Budweiser and champagne was always the goal when Castellanos and Schwarber signed with Philadelphia within days of each other after the lockout, giving Harper some much-needed thump around his own power bat in the lineup.
For Castellanos, this is the winning team he has been on a mission to find ever since being drafted by Detroit in 2010. After going 10 major league seasons without winning a postseason series, he has enjoyed three champagne celebrations just this month.
“We both want to win so bad,” Castellanos said when asked what he learned of Harper this season. “That’s one thing we have in common.”
For Schwarber, winning has never been an issue. He has done it everywhere he’s been his entire career. Praised as the ultimate glue guy in the Phillies clubhouse throughout this postseason, Schwarber has appeared in six league championship series for three different teams. But he was hurt for the only pennant-clinching win of his career, when the Chicago Cubs won it all in 2016. He never got the full playoff experience until now.
“It was cool for me,” he said Sunday between puffs of a cigar. “To be with them the whole year, from day one, has been awesome. Last time [in Chicago] I was down for the whole year.”
This was also a first for the longest-tenured Phillies position player, first baseman Rhys Hoskins. Hoskins had four home runs in five games this series and might have been named MVP if not for Harper’s heroics — but couldn’t bring himself to care about that while he celebrated his first pennant win.
“It’s a dream,” Hoskins said, wide-eyed on the field afterward. “This organization is the one that believed in me and gave me an opportunity to impact the city of Philadelphia in any way I could.”
Harper’s arrival signaled to Hoskins that the organization was serious about winning after years of frustration. Until this season, Hoskins had never played in a postseason game, instead having to hear stories of glory about teams from the past. Every time he looked up at the video scoreboard during this series, there was another Phillies great looking down from the stands: Ryan Howard, Jayson Werth and Shane Victorino — all members of the team’s 2008 World Series-winning squad.
The dream of joining those former players as champions became realistic once Harper arrived. Hoskins wasn’t surprised that it was Harper who delivered the big play that finally got him there.
“It’s probably something that he’s had in his head since the time he picked up a bat,” Hoskins said. “It’s been a while. He changed cities and had to get used to a new organization. For him to come through in that moment is storybook stuff.”
Later, in a hallway underneath the stands behind home plate, Harper shared a moment with actor Miles Teller, a huge Phillies fan, while still clutching his MVP trophy. He sat in the media room and said all the right things: The team isn’t satisfied with just winning the pennant and has four more games to win from here. But Harper looked most comfortable back in the clubhouse, allowing beer to be poured on him while sharing a victory that ended the series — instead of packing up to head across the country for Game 6.
“I didn’t want to get back on that flight back to San Diego,” he said. “I just didn’t want to get on a 5½-hour flight. I wanted to hang out at home and enjoy this at home with these fans and this organization and this fan base.”
The Phillies are headed to the World Series because of Harper. This is his team and now his city — and it was his heroics that allowed his home fans to celebrate the win in their ballpark.
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Heather Dinich, ESPN Senior Writer
Former Oregon State and Nebraska coach Mike Riley has been named to the College Football Playoff selection committee. He replaces athletic director Pat Chun, who was appointed to the 13-member committee when he was at Washington State but stepped down when he was hired for the same position at Washington.
“We are pleased to have Mike join the committee,” Bill Hancock, executive director of the CFP, said in a statement Friday. “He has significant experience as a player and coach, and he loves college football. He will bring a unique perspective to the committee. Plus, he is a delightful human being.”
Riley, who will serve a three-year term on the committee, was the head coach at Oregon State from 1997 to 1998 and again from 2003 to 2014 before leaving for Nebraska. Riley was fired from Nebraska by former athletic director Bill Moos in November 2017, just hours after the Cornhuskers lost to Iowa 56-14 to close a 4-8 season in Lincoln, the worst at the school since 1961. Riley ended his stint at Nebraska with a 19-19 record in three seasons.
Riley, who at one time was the longest-tenured coach in the Pac-12, took over an Oregon State program in 1997 that hadn’t had a winning season since 1970. He left after two seasons for a three-year stint with the San Diego Chargers — but not before his Beavers knocked off a nationally ranked Oregon team in an overtime thriller in the 1998 Civil War game.
He returned to Corvallis in 2003 and had winning seasons in eight of the next 12. His Beavers defeated No. 3 USC at home in 2006, No. 2 California on the road in 2007, No. 1 USC at home in 2008 and No. 9 Arizona on the road in 2010. His decision to leave Corvallis for Nebraska shocked many at the time.
In 2018, Riley returned to Oregon State for a third stint, this time as an assistant under then-first-year coach Jonathan Smith. He was only there for a few months because he was hired as head coach of the San Antonio franchise of the Alliance of American Football league, which was entering its inaugural season.
Other new committee members include former Toledo and Missouri coach Gary Pinkel, Baylor athletic director Mack Rhoades, Virginia athletic director Carla Williams and Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek.
They will replace former committee chair Boo Corrigan, Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart, Utah athletic director Mark Harlan, Kansas State athletic director Gene Taylor, Hall of Fame former coach Joe Taylor and former Notre Dame linebacker and tight end Rod West, whose terms have expired. The CFP extended the term of former All-American Nebraska lineman Will Shields for an additional year.
Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel will replace Corrigan as the committee chair. While there are several former coaches and players in the group, seven sitting athletic directors representing seven conferences (including one from each Power 5 league) make up the majority. The other returning committee members are former Nevada coach Chris Ault, Navy athletic director Chet Gladchuk, former Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe, Miami (Ohio) athletic director David Sayler, former sportswriter Kelly Whiteside, Manuel and Shields.
They will all be tasked with being the first group to select the teams for the new 12-team model, which will be unveiled this fall. The CFP will include the five highest-ranked conference champions and the next seven highest-ranked teams. The top four conference champions will receive a first-round bye.
While the playoff field and format have changed, the selection committee’s role has not. The new members will continue to use mostly the same protocol to determine their weekly top 25 rankings and ultimately the final teams on Selection Day.
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Greg Wyshynski, ESPN
The 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs are only a couple of weeks old, but there are already some lessons to be learned from them.
Here’s a look at some of the moments, trends and revelations from the NHL postseason so far, from being haunted by the past to leading into controversy to the pure hockey ecstasy of Connor McDavid.
Enjoy!
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