What's different about these Phillies? Bryce Harper, Trea Turner weigh in originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
ATLANTA — Yes, these Phillies.
The same core that has reached the postseason five consecutive years, yet hasn’t won a playoff series since 2023, has another opportunity to finish what it started.
But Bryce Harper sees some differences in this version of the Phillies, even if many of the names are familiar.
“I think they’re different, but they have a little bit of the same DNA,” Harper said Monday at Truist Park. “We have a lot of the same and similar DNA that we’ve had the last couple years, with a sprinkle of a couple other guys.”
Those additions, along with the growth of several returning players, could help determine whether Philadelphia’s latest postseason appearance ends differently from its previous two.
The most obvious change is in the bullpen.
Over the last two postseasons, Phillies relievers have combined for a 6.82 ERA, a 1.65 WHIP and six home runs allowed in 30 1/3 innings. Their ERA jumps to 11.42 when pitching with a lead.
Those numbers help explain why Philadelphia hasn’t advanced beyond the NLDS in either of its last two appearances.
This year’s relief group looks considerably different. José Alvarado is the only remaining member of the Phillies’ 2023 bullpen, and after posting a 5.86 ERA this season, he isn’t expected to handle the most important late-inning assignments.
Instead, Philadelphia has Jhoan Duran at the back end, with Jonathan Bowlan, Alex McFarlane and Chase Shugart among the newer faces who could be asked to get the ball to their closer.
The Phillies haven’t seen how this group will respond together in October. That uncertainty leaves them with questions, but at least they’ll be trying to solve a familiar problem with a different group of pitchers.
The offense, meanwhile, has undergone fewer changes. Philadelphia still relies heavily on Harper, Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner, with Alec Bohm and Bryson Stott providing much of the production behind them.
And that group has something to prove.
Of the 12 teams that played multiple postseason series across 2024 and 2025, the Phillies had the lowest batting average, the lowest average with runners in scoring position and the highest chase rate.
Too often, Philadelphia has struggled to put the ball in play when it has an opportunity to score. It was one of the reasons the club acquired Luis Arraez in August, but a left ankle sprain suffered during the final week of the regular season will keep him off the Wild Card roster.
That puts more responsibility on the returning hitters to sustain rallies against an Atlanta pitching staff that begins the series with Chris Sale and Tyler Mahle.
Bohm and Stott enter the postseason swinging the bat well, something Turner believes reflects the growth he’s witnessed within the clubhouse this year.
“I think it was just kind of cool to see guys struggle at times and then pull themselves out of it at times,” Turner said. “It didn’t go as well as it could have gone for a lot of us.”
He pointed specifically to Bohm, whose difficult start gave way to a productive final several months.
“He’s been such a good player for a long time, and then this second half or the last two-thirds of the season, he’s been really, really good for us,” Turner said.
But the Phillies have also introduced a different kind of hitter into the lower part of their lineup.
Justin Crawford, who made his major league debut earlier this season, has given Philadelphia another player capable of reaching base, putting pressure on the defense and delivering in important situations.
From June 14 through the end of the regular season, Crawford hit .294, the 15th-highest average in baseball among players who appeared in at least 80 games during that span. He ranked third among rookies who met that qualification.
His production with runners in scoring position was even more striking.
Crawford hit .491 in those situations over that stretch, the highest average among 109 players who met the same games-played requirement. His 1.131 OPS with runners in scoring position ranked fifth.
He won’t necessarily start every postseason game. Crawford shares center-field duties with Derek Hill, whose speed, defense and production against left-handed pitching give interim manager Don Mattingly another way to construct his lineup.
Hill has made quite an impression on Harper.
“He’s just a professional, I would say. He’s got a professional mindset,” Harper said. “Obviously having his pops, coming from a big-league family, I think that helps a lot.”
Harper went a step further when discussing Hill’s arrival, which came in a June trade with the Chicago White Sox.
“I think it’s one of the better moves Dave has made for our organization bringing him in,” Harper said, referring to president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski.
His praise extended well beyond Hill’s production. Harper singled out the way the outfielder prepares, backs up bases, looks for opportunities to advance and helps Philadelphia’s younger players.
“He’s a gamer. He plays the game the right way, and you need guys like that on your team,” Harper said.
Hill is also part of a trio that has developed a close bond away from the field.
Along with Bryan De La Cruz and Edmundo Sosa, he belongs to “Team Blessed,” a group built around their shared faith and a competitive batting-cage routine during games. All three have contributed in important moments throughout the season, frequently coming off the bench without the benefit of regular at-bats.
Harper mentioned Hill and De La Cruz specifically when asked what makes this club different from previous Phillies postseason teams. Both have given Philadelphia additional options against left-handed pitching, something it lacked earlier in the year.
And Harper believes players in those supporting roles can end up being the ones everyone remembers.
“It’s funny to look back on a lot of postseasons in baseball history,” Harper said. “Not many of the superstar players play to their ability.”
Harper himself is a notable exception.
Among the 109 hitters in postseason history with at least 200 plate appearances, his .986 OPS ranks third, trailing only Carlos Beltrán and Albert Pujols. His .596 slugging percentage is fourth.
But his point wasn’t about the stars who have delivered in October. It was about the players whose contributions nobody saw coming.
Consider Travis Ishikawa, a part-time first baseman who found himself playing left field for the 2014 San Francisco Giants. In Game 5 of the NLCS, Ishikawa hit a three-run, walk-off homer against the Cardinals to send San Francisco to the World Series.
That’s the type of player Harper had in mind when discussing Philadelphia’s reserves.
“You never know who the October hero is going to be,” Harper said. “Then you get to the end and you’re like, man, that guy had a great postseason and you might never hear from him again.”
Hill, De La Cruz, Sosa and Crawford will have opportunities to write their own postseason stories. For some, it will be their first chance to experience an October environment that Harper knows well.
His advice is to avoid treating it as a different game.
“All the work that you put in during the season and all the work that you put in to get you to this point, all that doesn’t matter,” Harper said. “It’s the same game that we’ve been playing. It just might get a little bit quicker or might speed up on you a little bit if you let it.”
That doesn’t mean the veteran slugger wants his younger teammates to ignore the occasion.
“If you can really try to just enjoy the moment, I don’t know, you could go 0-for-4 tomorrow or you could go 0-for-5 tomorrow or you can go 3-for-4 with two homers and win a game,” Harper said. “If you just really take in the moment, take in the opportunity, there’s no greater feeling.”
The Phillies have considerable postseason experience, but this season has tested them in ways their more recent teams haven’t necessarily encountered.
They began 9-19, underwent a managerial change and spent much of the year rearranging their pitching staff because of injuries and inconsistent performances.
There are similarities to 2022, when Philadelphia also changed managers after a difficult start before making an improbable run to the World Series. That team didn’t secure its postseason berth until Oct. 3 and entered the playoffs having gone 11-14 in September.
Turner wasn’t part of that club. He joined the Phillies the following offseason, and much of what stood out to him about this year’s team had less to do with the final results than the way his teammates responded to their own struggles.
He recalled a recent conversation about Schwarber, who was still working through issues with his swing during the final days of the regular season.
“He’s hit 380 homers in his career, and one of the best hitters in the game, and he’s just not satisfied,” Turner said.
For Turner, that restlessness says something about the veteran players who have been together through several disappointing postseason exits.
“Just seeing guys kind of manage their situations and want to compete and want to get back out there and just loving the game, I think that was pretty cool from a team standpoint,” he said.
It’s a perspective that comes from watching the same players through different stages of their careers. As Harper acknowledged, they’re getting older. Stott has grown into a more established hitter, Bohm’s future in Philadelphia is uncertain, and the club has brought in new players to complement a core that has been trying to win a championship for years.
The Phillies have invested heavily in their starting rotation, traded for a closer last year they believe can handle the biggest innings and introduced players who could give their offense a different look. But much of their postseason success will still depend on familiar names producing in situations where they’ve struggled before.
Harper, now preparing for his ninth postseason in 15 major league seasons, understands how rare those opportunities can become.
He brought up Hall-of-Fame quarterback Dan Marino, who reached the Super Bowl early in his career but never returned, as an example of how little a player’s previous success guarantees about what comes next.
The Phillies have reached October five straight years. That doesn’t mean they’ll keep getting chances.
“I’m very lucky,” Harper said. “Obviously I haven’t got to the point where I want to be or our team hasn’t either, but just to be in these moments, just to be given the opportunity to be here, I’m so grateful for that. It motivates me to get to these points.”
Philadelphia arrives in Atlanta with many of the same stars, some new faces and the experience of a regular season that nearly slipped away from it.
Harper knows what he wants this group to accomplish. But after all the postseason games he’s played, he’s learned there’s no telling which teammate might deliver the moment that gets them there.
“It’s a cool opportunity for a lot of guys that have never played here,” he said. “You could end up being a hero after having just an absolute terrible year.”
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