Connect with us

Published

on

BRYCE HARPER’S DAILY routine is no different than many Philadelphia sports fans. On his drive into the city from his home in the suburb of Haddonfield, New Jersey, he listens to local sports talk radio. Often, he walks into Citizens Bank Park wearing gear of a Philadelphia sports team. Then Harper changes into his uniform, rolls up his sleeves and gets to work.

Harper gets a thrill from hearing the passion that fans in his sports-crazed city have for their teams — especially because it’s a passion he shares with them.

“People that call into the radio, they love it. They love us. I love listening to it. I think it’s hilarious. I enjoy listening about all the other sports in town. I love cheering on the Eagles. I love cheering on the Sixers and Flyers,” Harper said. “

“We all know what it’s like to play here and so we all cheer for each other and understand each other. When the city rallies around a team and all the players, it’s just so much fun to see.”

Harper began endearing himself to a fan base known for its rough edges from the moment he signed a 13-year, $330 million contract before the 2019 season. He famously overruled agent Scott Boras’ insistence to include an opt-out, wanting to show loyalty to the place he planned to spend the rest of his career. He also turned down an opportunity to don No. 34 — his number with the Washington Nationals — declaring that Hall of Fame pitcher Roy Halladay “should be the last to wear it.” When he bemoaned the price of beer at Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia knew it had found one of its own.

“Bryce is really good at saying the right thing and I don’t think it’s B.S.,” longtime Phillies first baseman and current team broadcaster John Kruk told ESPN recently. “He means it. From Day 1, when he signed that contract and he didn’t ask for that opt-out, that meant a lot to the fans.”

Fast forward five years and Harper is even more beloved in Philly. Sure, winning an MVP award in 2021 helped that cause. So did leading the Phillies to the World Series the following year and returning to the National League Championship series in October. But it’s not just the awards and playoff victories that have strengthened his bond with the city.

“I came from Southern California, having no idea what the East Coast was like, let alone Philadelphia,” Chase Utley, another Philly great, said in a phone conversation. “It takes a certain type of personality to succeed and thrive in the Philadelphia sports world. Bryce had it right away.

“He brings you into his game with his talent and grit. That resonates with the fan base.”

The adoration of an East Coast city that prides itself on blue-collar toughness might not be what you’d expect for a superstar who grew up 2,500 miles away, among the glittering lights of Las Vegas. But Harper has always been as much South Philly as Vegas Strip.

“I kind of always thought the city suited him and it was only a matter of time before he got here,” said Trea Turner, who was also Harper’s teammate in D.C. “Bryce is Philadelphia now.”


HARPER WANTS YOU to know at least one thing about Las Vegas: It’s not all about the Strip. There are neighborhoods and locals and working class people all over — just not necessarily where tourists go. It’s more blue-collar than many think.

“You have to be a hard-working town when you’re building all those casinos,” he said.

Harper’s father, Ron, is an iron worker who did local construction for 30 years; his extended family all worked “blue-collar jobs” as well. Harper’s work ethic was honed early in life, in part by laying rebar with his dad.

He took that mindset onto the field with him, quickly outpacing ballplayers his age and playing against players four or five years older on Las Vegas’ best travel teams. At 16, he decided to leave high school, earn his GED and enroll at the College of Southern Nevada. He continued to dominate there, winning college baseball’s Golden Spikes Award, an honor that’s been given to a junior college player just twice in nearly a half-century, in 2010.

All the early morning runs, the workouts in the gym and his dominance on the field paid off that same year when Harper was selected first overall by Washington.

“Bryce was the guy. Everybody had their eyes on Bryce,” said Mike Bryant, who coached Harper, Joey Gallo and his own future major league MVP son Kris, in Las Vegas youth leagues. “Just having Bryce around brought eyes on everyone else. He was the guy. No question about it.”

That sort of attitude and expectations also helped prepare him for the kind of scrutiny a superstar faces in Philadelphia.

“He’s been in the spotlight since he was 14,” former Phillies manager Larry Bowa said. “That has a lot to do with it. He’s had pressure on him his whole life. When you come here, you better be able to deal with it. That doesn’t bother him.”


NEVER WAS HARPER’S work ethic more apparent than his months of rehab after his November 2022 Tommy John surgery. The initial timetable had him rejoining the team around the 2023 All-Star break, but he had a different plan. On May 2 — more than two months ahead of schedule — Harper was back, moving to a new position and eventually helping the Phillies to another playoff berth.

“I was calling him a superhero,” fellow Las Vegas product and Phillies infielder Bryson Stott said. “His body heals faster than anyone I think I’ve ever seen.”

Though Harper’s move to first base was initially to protect his still-tender arm, the initial success led the Phillies to make the move permanent this offseason. Harper had enough clout that he could have vetoed the plan and stayed at designated hitter or lobbied for a move back to the outfield.

“That’s the first thing our infield coach, Bobby Dickerson, said to me: ‘If you’re all-in, we’re going to do this. If you’re not, we’re not going to,'” Harper recalled. “From that point on, I told him, ‘Whatever you want to do.’

“I love being coached.”

The undertaking meant Harper would need to spend hours this spring learning the nuances of a new position, often putting in extra time before batting practice taking ground balls. His teammates and coaches saw the former MVP attack his new challenge like a rookie trying to make the roster.

“We spent at least 20 minutes a day on our half field. We did all the skill parts of playing the position,” Dickerson said. “Then I did a little verbal test with him every few days, like, ‘Runner on first, double down the right-field line. Where do you go?’ I would hit him with that a good bit.”

“It’s been an amazing transformation to watch, actually. You spend your whole career doing different things in the outfield, then in the major leagues [you] learn to play first base.”

The results so far tell the story. According to ESPN Stats & Information, his range moving to his right has improved since last year and he ranks near the top of the league in outs above average (second) and defensive runs saved (second). Through Wednesday, Harper’s had 251 chances at first base without committing an error.

“It’s still a transition,” Harper said. “I’m still learning where I need to be on the field. When a guy hits a ball down the line or in the gap, you can’t get caught watching paint dry. I sit there sometimes and watch Bryson make a great play and I’m like, ‘Holy crap, I have to cover first base.'”

Stott sees the connection between that work Harper puts in behind the scenes and his Las Vegas roots. Yes, there are bright lights and big paydays but nothing gets done without effort.

“You see the casino executives,” Stott said. “They’re working, but they’re not in the streets building the casinos. You don’t see those people. You don’t see the work [Bryce] put in either.”


NO MATTER HOW hard you work — or how well you perform — there is a reality for all professional athletes in Philadelphia: You will be booed.

Harper was already hearing it from the fans on his first Opening Day as a Phillie, in 2019 — and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“On my first day I punched out against Julio Teheran, and I’m walking back to the dugout and they booed me on my first at-bat,” Harper said. “I totally understand and get it.

“When you do stuff wrong they’re going to let you know. As players in this clubhouse, we love that and from an individual standpoint, I love it.”

Harper made it clear that a few boos weren’t going to keep him down — he homered in each of the next three games. Just as important, he answered the tough postgame questions from reporters, starting with that initial 0-for-3 debut.

That culture of accountability has spread through a clubhouse filled with players who have come to join Harper in Philadelphia, a city that is now a destination for big-name free agents. First it was Zack Wheeler signing a $118 million deal before the 2020 season, then sluggers Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos signed on the next season. Finally, Turner reunited with Harper by signing a $300 million contract an offseason ago.

Together, they have formed a core beloved in the city as few Philadelphia teams — in any sport — have been before.

“When they have a s— game, [the fans] want to hear it,” Bowa said. “‘Hey, I stunk tonight.’ Schwarber does it. Turner, too. Bryce has had that kind of impact.”

Some around the Phillies credit the bond Harper created for bringing out a softer side of the fan base. Instead of booing Alec Bohm out of town when he was caught mouthing “I f—ing hate this place” after making an error, the fans rallied around their young third baseman. Turner received a similar reaction when he was greeted with a standing ovation — not a round of boos — when he came to the plate in August, in the midst of a prolonged slump in his first season with the Phillies.

“He’s done a good job of showing the other side of Philly,” Turner said. “The coolest part, over the last five years, is to see where it started and where it is now. The whole organization and the fans and all that stuff is in a lot better position.”

Schwarber agreed. “He embraces the way that they think,” he said. “And he’s really public with it. He wants to win it and win it for the city. That’s what you want out of a leader. That’s what makes it exciting to come and play every day.”

Of course, Harper knows Philadelphia is still Philadelphia, and the boos could always come unless one of these seasons ends with him holding up the World Series trophy. Though they’ve come close, a championship has evaded them, and the euphoria of the team’s unexpected 2022 postseason run was replaced by frustration when the team lost Game 7 of the National League Championship Series at home in October. Signed through 2031, Harper still has nearly a decade to deliver that ultimate prize to his city.

“You do it for so long that it becomes the goal even more, right?” Harper said. “We have such a great group of guys. All we want to do is win. We don’t care about anything else.

“Philly is a very results-oriented town.”

Continue Reading

Sports

Jays’ Springer back; Betts at cleanup in Game 6

Published

on

By

Jays' Springer back; Betts at cleanup in Game 6

Designated hitter George Springer has returned to the Blue Jays lineup as Toronto seeks to clinch the World Series title, while the Los Angeles Dodgers are tinkering with their order as they seek to extend the series to Game 7.

Springer will be the Blue Jays’ leadoff hitter for Friday’s Game 6 after missing the past two games when he strained muscles on his right side while taking a swing in Game 3.

“Once you get confirmation that there’s nothing terribly wrong, it’s kind of ‘What can you tolerate?'” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “He’s somehow, at age 36, made significant progress in the last 48 hours.”

Los Angeles, meanwhile, will shift Mookie Betts to cleanup and play Miguel Rojas at second base. The Dodgers are searching for an offensive spark after being held to three runs and 10 hits over two straight losses to the Blue Jays in Los Angeles.

Betts at cleanup is the lowest he has hit in a lineup since September 2017 with the Boston Red Sox.

Typically hitting No. 2 for the Dodgers this season, Betts is 3-for-23 in the World Series, going 0-for-4 with two strikeouts in Game 5 when he hit third for the first time in four years.

Schneider said the Blue Jays don’t believe Springer can aggravate or worsen his pain by playing.

“That’s kind of how we’re approaching it,” Schneider said. “There’s always some risk too. There’s a difference between being injured and hurting. He’s not injured right now. But yeah, there’s always a risk.”

Springer has hit the second-most leadoff homers in major league history with 63, trailing only Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson‘s 81.

He hit a three-run homer in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series against the Seattle Mariners on Oct. 20, playing a major role in sending the Blue Jays to their first World Series title since 1993. That came three days after he was struck on the right kneecap by a 95.6 mph pitch from Seattle’s Bryan Woo during the ALCS, forcing him out of Game 5. Springer returned in Game 6.

With Springer back in the lineup, Bo Bichette will play second base for the third time in the World Series after not playing the position at the major league level before.

The Blue Jays lead the World Series 3-2 and are one win from their first title since 1993. A Dodgers victory would force the first World Series Game 7 since 2019.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Continue Reading

Sports

This World Series is headed back to Toronto! Here’s what each team needs to do to win it

Published

on

By

This World Series is headed back to Toronto! Here's what each team needs to do to win it

The 2025 World Series is back in Canada for Game 6 on Friday night with the Toronto Blue Jays one win away from dethroning the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Will the Blue Jays finish the deal at Rogers Centre or will the Dodgers find a way to rebound? And who is the World Series MVP through five games?

Our MLB experts break down what Toronto and L.A. must do in the final game(s) of this Fall Classic.


How surprised are you that this series is heading back to Toronto with the Blue Jays up 3-2?

David Schoenfield: Hey, I picked the Blue Jays in seven, and one of the main reasons I went with them has come into play: concern about the Dodgers’ bats. They’re hitting just .201 in the World Series and .236 overall in the postseason (and .214 since the start of the NLDS, while averaging just 3.5 runs per game).

It feels like unless Shohei Ohtani is hitting the ball over the fence, they’re going to have problems scoring runs. Mookie Betts’ struggles are especially problematic: He’s 3-for-23 in the World Series without an extra-base hit or RBI. He has six hard-hit balls (95-plus mph), but only one ball in play at 100 mph, and he’s 1-for-6 in those six plate appearances.

Jorge Castillo: I wouldn’t have been surprised if presented with this scenario before the series started since I picked the Blue Jays to win in seven games. But I thought Toronto was in trouble after not only losing Game 3 in that fashion but losing George Springer to injury. The Blue Jays bouncing back from those two setbacks — beating Shohei Ohtani in Game 4 before Trey Yesavage made more history in Game 5 — was beyond impressive.


Who is the MVP of this series through the first five games?

Jesse Rogers: With all due respect to what young Yesavage did in Game 5, the Blue Jays would have no chance in this series without the contributions of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. He’s been the most constant — as well as dominant — hitter on any team this postseason, this series included. That’s saying something considering some of Ohtani’s heroics, but that’s how good Guerrero has been. He’s hitting .364 with two important home runs in Games 4 and 5. He might be your MVP no matter what happens in Games 6 and 7.

Alden Gonzalez: I agree with Jesse on Vlad. But Addison Barger actually has a higher OPS than Vlad in this series, at 1.147. And Alejandro Kirk is right behind Barger at 1.125. And so, even though it’s obviously not possible, I’d like to give the MVP to this entire Blue Jays offense — for doing what the Milwaukee Brewers couldn’t against a dominant rotation, and for showing the Dodgers what is possible against the high-end pitching teams face this time of year.

The Blue Jays have been without Springer over these last couple of games and are playing a very limited Bo Bichette, and yet they’ve outscored the Dodgers by 11 runs in this series and by a whopping 36 runs in the entire postseason. In all three of their wins, they’ve perfectly followed the blueprint to beat this Dodgers pitching staff — make the starting pitcher work, then tee off on the middle relievers.


What do you expect for Yamamoto vs. Gausman 2.0 in Game 6 after their Game 2 pitching duel?

Bradford Doolittle: Yoshinobu Yamamoto is on a roll. The Dodgers’ offense is very much not. That suggests a low-scoring duel and a game decided by one or two runs. The chances of Yamamoto throwing another nine are slim from a pure probability standpoint, and frankly the Dodgers shouldn’t need him to do it with just two more games to cover and the availability of starters like Ohtani and Blake Snell in the bullpen for an all-hands-on-deck Game 7.

After the 15 whiffs in Game 5, the Dodgers will be antsy for contact and it’ll be telling how aggressive they are against Gausman early on. It’s a tough balance. Kevin Gausman will walk guys, but you can’t be too passive with him because he’ll bury you once he gets the edge in a count. It’ll be a great cat-and-mouse game on both sides.

Castillo: Another duel. Yamamoto has been the best pitcher in this postseason and nothing suggests he’s about to get roughed up. A third straight complete game is asking for a lot, but he should give the Dodgers at least a quality start. On the other side, Gausman has been very good in the playoffs and matched Yamamoto in Game 2 until the seventh inning. The struggling Dodgers offense might not need much to support Yamamoto, but Gausman won’t make it easy.


The Blue Jays will be World Series champions if …

Rogers: They simply keep the pressure on at the plate. Despite some stellar moments on the mound for the Dodgers, Toronto’s pesky lineup has caused just enough havoc to earn a series lead. If they don’t get much off Dodgers starters the next game or perhaps two, their ability to add on late against L.A.’s pen is always a threat. Toronto has proven it has the lengthier and better lineup so far. It’s their key to winning this weekend.

Schoenfield: Vlad Jr. keeps hitting bombs. The Jays can win without him — they won Game 7 of the ALCS even though he went 1-for-4 without a run or RBI — but he is, as Reggie Jackson might say, the straw that stirs the drink.

As alluded to above, even if they lose Game 6, at least knocking out Yamamoto and forcing Dave Roberts to use Roki Sasaki will be another key. It feels like if it goes to a Game 7, Roberts’ circle of trust might be limited to starter Tyler Glasnow, Sasaki, Ohtani and maybe Snell. Glasnow has topped out at six innings in his three playoff starts, so if the Blue Jays can at least force Sasaki into Game 6, maybe that limits Roberts’ relief options in Game 7 — or forces him to use someone else from an unreliable bullpen.


The Dodgers can force a Game 7 (and win it) if …

Doolittle: For me, Game 6 is the Blue Jays’ best chance to close out the series. I just like the Dodgers’ pitching outlook for a Game 7 much more, from the starter to the options in expanded bullpens. They have to get to Gausman early on the scoreboard, ideally by stringing some disciplined at-bats together that revs up his pitch count.

I feel like Yamamoto, complete game or not, will pull his weight. But one or two or more of the Dodgers’ struggling stars have to remind us of why L.A.’s offense was such a beast during the regular season, because you can’t count on the Blue Jays’ offense being completely shut down. They are just too consistent.

Gonzalez: Their offense gets back to manufacturing runs. The Dodgers are slashing just .214/.306/.360 since the wild-card round. In that stretch, they’ve scored three or more runs in just three of their 123 half-innings. Two players in particular need to step up: Mookie Betts, who hits between Ohtani and Freddie Freeman but is just 3-for-23 in the World Series; and Alex Call, who will probably replace the struggling Andy Pages in the No. 9 spot once again and who needs to reach base so that the top of the lineup can see more RBI opportunities.

Continue Reading

Sports

The unhittable pitch rocking this MLB postseason — and the aces who will be throwing it in World Series Game 6

Published

on

By

The unhittable pitch rocking this MLB postseason -- and the aces who will be throwing it in World Series Game 6

TORONTO — In Game 6 of the World Series on Friday, two of the foremost practitioners of the pitch that has defined October will duel at Rogers Centre. Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto is trying to save his team’s season, and Toronto Blue Jays right-hander Kevin Gausman is trying to win his franchise’s first championship in more than 30 years, and both will rely heavily on the split-fingered fastball, an offering that for almost 20 years teetered on the brink of extinction in Major League Baseball.

The rise of the splitter over the past half a decade — fueled by the emergence of elite pitching from Japan, where the the offering is a standard part of nearly every pitcher’s arsenal, and the softening on its use by MLB teams that at one point had forbid the pitch, fearful that it directly led to elbow injuries — has transformed baseball even more than the cutter and sweeper once did. Because it’s a superior pitch to all of them.

“If you can throw it near the strike zone,” Clayton Kershaw said, “it’s the best pitch in the game.”

In recent years, Kershaw began throwing a split-change, finally finding a comfortable variation of a changeup after spending his 18-year future Hall of Fame career in search of one. He is far from alone. This postseason, 32 pitchers, representing nearly a quarter of playoff hurlers, have thrown splitters. Since the advent of pitch tracking in 2008, the highest percentage of splitters thrown among overall pitches in October was 3.2% last year. Most seasons, it ranged between 0.2% and 2%.

This October, 6.8% of all pitches have been splitters, a staggering number that reflects the game’s wholesale embrace. It’s not just Gausman (who has thrown the pitch 41.4% of the time in the playoffs) and Yamamoto (24.7%). Toronto rookie Trey Yesavage dominated the Dodgers with his splitter in Game 5. Shohei Ohtani, who will pitch in Game 7 if the Dodgers win Friday’s battle of the splits, throws a vicious one. Blue Jays closer Jeff Hoffman could set off a celebration with one. The same goes for Dodgers closer Roki Sasaki, whose splitter dances in all directions with perilously low spin, like a souped-up knuckleball.

“It’s kind of one of the few pitches I thoroughly believe a hitter can know it’s coming and still get out,” Gausman said. “I’ve always felt like the changeup is the best pitch in the game because it looks like a fastball, and anything that looks like a fastball and isn’t is really good. So, I think that’s why you’re seeing a lot more guys do it. I’m happy to see a lot more starters do it because it was always kind of more of a reliever pitch. So, to me, it’s exciting to see guys like Yamamoto throw it a lot.”

The splitter is the evolutionary descendant of the forkball, which dates back to the 1910s. Whereas a forkball was jammed as deep as possible between the index and middle fingers, the splitter offers more leeway for pitchers to find comfort. It is not a discriminating pitch like the changeup, which necessitates pronation — the internal rotation of the forearm that leaves the thumb facing down and the pinky up after release — something with which Kershaw and others struggle. It’s quite simple, actually: put the ball between two fingers, support it with the thumb, throw it with the arm speed of a fastball and let the grip do the work.

Closer Bruce Sutter learned the splitter in 1973 and rode it to the Hall of Fame, inspiring the next generation to throw the pitch that looks like a fastball, only to die as it approaches the plate. Mike Scott won a Cy Young with it. Roger Clemens, Curt Schilling and John Smoltz pitched into their 40s thanks to it. By the time their careers ended in the 2000s, though, the splitter was made into a scapegoat for failing elbow ligaments across the game. Some had the gumption to keep throwing it. Most were discouraged, turning splitter into a four-letter word.

The lack of splitters thrown led to a knowledge gap, Dodgers pitching coach Mark Prior said, “and I don’t think a lot of people knew how to teach it. If you were around a guy who threw it, maybe you can mess with it. If you weren’t, I don’t even remember anybody I was with who threw splits. So, it was something you didn’t even mess around with.”

The arrival of Masahiro Tanaka to the New York Yankees in 2014 ushered in a new generation of the splitter. And technology aided its rebirth. Super-high-speed Edgertronic cameras allowed pitchers to see how a ball left their hands. TrackMan, the radar-based system that measures pitches’ spin and movement, gave immediate feedback and a granular look at a pitch’s effectiveness.

“Five, 10, 15 years ago, a guy would work on a pitch all year then find out,” Blue Jays pitching coach Pete Walker said. “Looking back, that was fruitless. It was not going to happen. So, we wasted a year of someone’s career working on a curveball, working on a slider or working on a split-fingered fastball. I think now it’s just expedited. We can make that decision with more background on it and more validity to it.”

Compound that ability and desire to learn new offerings with the sport-wide understanding that velocity is the greatest predictor of arm injuries, and teams’ stances on splitters softened. Pitchers jumped at the opportunity to try the splitter, and with good reason.

This postseason, batters are hitting .154/.206/.250 against splitters — the lowest numbers in each triple-slash category for any pitch. In the World Series, the Dodgers are 1-for-22 with 14 strikeouts on splitters. Toronto has thrown splitters 13.7% of the time during the playoffs, a number that figures to jump with Gausman on the mound in Game 6.

The splitter has saved careers — “I’d have been done a long time ago without it,” Dodgers reliever Kirby Yates said — and is more frequently making them. Over this winter, it will be the talk of pitching labs around the sport, with hundreds of professional pitchers at all levels seeing if it works. Already, multiple front office officials said, teams are digging into their pitchers’ movement patterns to see if a splitter would complement their current arsenal. And because of what they’ve learned designing other new pitches, they’ll have a decent idea whether it works sooner rather than later.

“It could be one session,” Walker said. “It could be even before the session, to be honest with you.”

The versatility of the splitter only adds to the allure. Pitchers can throw it extremely hard, like Paul Skenes‘ and Jhoan Duran‘s splinker, a splitter-sinker hybrid. They can aim for a forked, low-spin variety like Sasaki’s, a devastating late-breaker like Yamamoto’s or one like Gausman’s that he can command in and out of the strike zone. They can even use it as a show-me off-speed pitch like Kershaw.

Whatever the form, the splitter is here to stay. As it proliferates, perhaps its utility will diminish. Part of its effectiveness, after all, is its relative rarity. For now, though, it’s still a pitch teeming with mystery — there one second, gone the next.

“You can’t hit it,” Kershaw said. “You cannot hit a good split.”

Continue Reading

Trending