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Philadelphia Phillies: 3 players who need to step up for rest of the season

By Sam Wagman

PHILADELPHIA, PA - AUGUST 28: Scott Kingery #42 of the Philadelphia Phillies celebrates with his teammates after hitting a walk-off three run home run in the bottom of the eleventh inning against the Atlanta Braves at Citizens Bank Park on August 28, 2020 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. All players are wearing #42 in honor of Jackie Robinson Day. The day honoring Jackie Robinson, traditionally held on April 15, was rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Phillies defeated the Braves 7-4. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA - AUGUST 28: Scott Kingery #42 of the Philadelphia Phillies celebrates with his teammates after hitting a walk-off three run home run in the bottom of the eleventh inning against the Atlanta Braves at Citizens Bank Park on August 28, 2020 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. All players are wearing #42 in honor of Jackie Robinson Day. The day honoring Jackie Robinson, traditionally held on April 15, was rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Phillies defeated the Braves 7-4. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /
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PHILADELPHIA, PA – AUGUST 28: Bryce Harper #42 of the Philadelphia Phillies looks on against the Atlanta Braves at Citizens Bank Park on August 28, 2020 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. All players are wearing #42 in honor of Jackie Robinson Day. The day honoring Jackie Robinson, traditionally held on April 15, was rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Phillies defeated the Braves 7-4. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA – AUGUST 28: Bryce Harper #42 of the Philadelphia Phillies looks on against the Atlanta Braves at Citizens Bank Park on August 28, 2020 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. All players are wearing #42 in honor of Jackie Robinson Day. The day honoring Jackie Robinson, traditionally held on April 15, was rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Phillies defeated the Braves 7-4. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /

Bryce Harper

It only makes sense to start this off with the 2015 MVP. Harper is on an absolute tear this year, with a .303/.439/.607 slash line so far and a huge 1.045 OPS line, numbers he hasn’t approached since said worldly 2015 season. Harper is mashing balls left and right so far this season, and so far is living up to the massive contract he was signed to last year.

The best part about all of this is that Harper has really started to embrace his expected leadership role on this team, and has said all the right things and made this city fall entirely in love with him.

Manager Joe Girardi won his 1,000th game last Wednesday, and Harper’s postgame speech was something else, talking about how special of a manager that Girardi is and how happy he was that #1000 came with this franchise. Harper also quite publicly stated that he and his teammates need to go on a tear, and since then, they’ve won five straight divisional games.

As the Phillies approach the midpoint of this season, all arrows are pointing up for Harper, and he alone is probably the single most important cog in this machine as the Phils start to bear down on catching their first playoff appearance since all the way back in 2011.

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