Phillies celebrate first NL East crown since 2011
Todd Zolecki
@ToddZoleckiPHILADELPHIA -- The Phillies had only delayed the inevitable.
They had moved into first place in the National League East on May 3, held a 10-game lead as late as July 5 and never let anybody get any closer than five games the rest of the way. The Phils owned the East this year, just like they owned the best record in baseball for much of the season.
On Monday night, they made it official. They beat the Cubs at Citizens Bank Park, 6-2, to clinch their first NL East title in 13 years.
Nick Castellanos squeezed the final out into his mitt in right-center field in the ninth inning. Carlos Est¨¦vez launched his postgame Kamehameha from the mound. Teammates jogged into the field from the dugout and bullpen to celebrate the first step of what they hope will be the third World Series championship in franchise history.
¡°We¡¯ve got experience, we¡¯ve got expectations for ourselves,¡± Kyle Schwarber said. ¡°If we can keep going out there and playing our brand of baseball, and have that edge about us, have that attitude about us -- every time we walk out the door we expect to win the game.
¡°We¡¯ve seen a lot of different things through the regular season to the postseason. We¡¯re not going to be surprised by anything. We¡¯ve just got to be able to play our game and respond to anything that happens.¡±
The Phils carried the party into the clubhouse, where they blasted their postgame mix and sprayed enough champagne and beer to ruin the best pair (or worst pair) of shoes.
¡°It¡¯s tough to go wire-to-wire, man,¡± Bryce Harper said.
It is difficult because every team has flaws, and the Phils are no different. But they also are a team that nobody wants to face in the postseason because they might be the most complete team in baseball.
Philadelphia¡¯s rotation is four deep with Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Cristopher S¨¢nchez and Ranger Su¨¢rez. It has a lineup loaded with MVP-caliber talents, including Harper, Schwarber and Trea Turner. It has a bullpen that is throwing as well as anybody¡¯s in baseball.
It is a team built to win a title.
¡°From top to bottom, from [managing partner and chief executive officer John Middleton] up top to [president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski] to [manager Rob Thomson] to everybody else, we have that same goal every time we go into Spring Training,¡± Harper said. ¡°Win games, win the division every year and try to get deep into the postseason every year. People talk about windows and things like that. But with John at the helm, there¡¯s no windows.
¡°This is a team that¡¯s going to play for a long time, be competitive for a long time. Obviously, we have a really good team right now and this is our window with this team right now.¡±
J.T. Realmuto crushed a two-run home run into the evergreen trees in center field in the second inning to give the Phils a 2-0 lead.
Schwarber ripped a solo homer to right-center field in the third to make it 3-0. It was Schwarber¡¯s 37th homer and 100th RBI of the season, making him the first Phillies player to have consecutive 100-RBI seasons since Ryan Howard had six straight from 2006-11.
Nola handled it from there, allowing two runs in six-plus innings. Nola has five career starts on dates the Phillies clinched either a postseason berth or clinched a division title or games in which they clinched a postseason series.
¡°Man, it's been a long time coming,¡± Nola said about winning the division. ¡°It's really cool. Really cool. I've always wanted to win the division. When I first got up here in the big leagues, I felt like we were a little bit ways away from doing that. But we made a lot of jumps over the years. We went through a lot of struggles.¡±
Est¨¦vez was on the mound for the final three outs. In late April, he gave up a pair of ninth-inning homers to the Phillies as a member of the Angels. Three months later, Philadelphia traded for him.
Nearly two months after that, he closed the division clincher.
¡°It feels amazing being in a situation like this,¡± Est¨¦vez said. ¡°I¡¯ve been working hard to get back to the playoffs. It took me six years, but I¡¯m here and I¡¯m ready for it.¡±
Phillies left-hander Tanner Banks joined the team before the July 30 Trade Deadline, too. He left a White Sox team that may lose more games than any club in MLB history.
¡°I¡¯m so grateful,¡± Banks said. ¡°I¡¯m so excited to be a part of this team, to be here, to celebrate and to lock it in for October and to make a push to win the World Series.¡±
Estevez and Banks are two Phillies newcomers who have never experienced a Red October.
But most of this team returns with unfinished business.
¡°I think we¡¯re built for meaningful games in October,¡± Harper said. ¡°Obviously, we got beat last year and the year before. It¡¯s not a good feeling.¡±
The next step for the Phillies is clinching a first-round bye. Any combination of two Phils wins and/or Brewers losses will do it. They need the bye, too. Guys are banged up. They could use the rest, including Harper.
Harper smiled when asked about clinching the division at home. The Phillies had hoped to clinch it over the weekend against the Mets in New York, but they fell short.
Maybe it was meant to happen in Philly.
¡°Just a lot of fun,¡± Harper said.