But this team persevered through the tough start and an injury that took Harper out for two months to do just that, beating the Houston Astros 3-0 Monday night to clinch its first playoff berth in 11 years.
“This is the goal,” Harper said. “This is what you play for.”
Aaron Nola took a perfect game into the seventh inning and Schwarber homered to propel the Phillies to the victory Monday.
“It hasn’t been an easy season,” Schwarber said. “We went through a manager change, went through the MVP being down... and we went through people saying that our season’s over, that don’t even count the Phillies and they can’t catch the baseball.