After the Philadelphia Phillies secured their third straight playoff spot on Friday night, they shook hands on the field and headed back to the dugout as if it were just another regular-season win.
Shortly after, manager Rob Thomson gathered the team in the clubhouse and thanked them during a calm champagne toast to recognize their important achievement.
But there was no wild celebration, with players spraying drinks and celebrating exuberantly—at least not yet.
“Pretty calm and relaxed from what it usually turns into,” All-Star third baseman Alec Bohm said with a laugh.
Making the playoffs is just the first step; winning the World Series is the bigger goal. The Phillies know this well and aim for much more than simply participating in the postseason. “You look around and see all the talent, all the players, and the front office making smart moves.
At the start of the year, it was clear this team should be in the playoffs,” Bohm said. “It’s great that we’ve stayed healthy and done what we needed to reach this point. Now it’s about keeping it going.”
Bryce Harper and the Phillies clinched their playoff spot—something they had been expecting—by beating the New York Mets 12-2.
With at least a National League wild card secured, Philadelphia can win its first NL East title since 2011 with just one more victory this weekend against the second-place Mets at Citi Field.
“It’s hard to go wire-to-wire, and our team has done a great job all season,” Harper said. “We have bigger goals, but this is a great moment.”
With the division title so close, the Phillies kept the celebration low-key on Friday, looking forward to a more lively party once they secure first place.
“It’ll be a little more rowdy, for sure,” Bohm said, who homered and had four hits with four RBIs.
Hoping for their third World Series championship, the Phillies took the division lead from Atlanta on May 3 and have not looked back since.
Philadelphia (92-62) is tied with the Los Angeles Dodgers for the best record in baseball and is on track to earn a first-round bye in the playoffs. This is the third time the Phillies have made the postseason three years in a row, following similar runs from 1976-78 and 2007-11.
“Not everybody gets the chance to play for the World Series every year, so even if it feels like this is where we should be, it’s still a big achievement,” Bohm said.
Key players like Harper, Bohm, Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner, and Nick Castellanos have led the offense, while Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Ranger Suárez, and Cristopher Sánchez have been strong on the pitching side. The team has mostly stayed the same since 2023.
Philadelphia won five straight NL East titles from 2007-11 but then went a decade without reaching the playoffs. They entered as wild cards the past two seasons, making it far but facing disappointment.
In 2022, they reached the World Series but lost to Houston in six games. Last year, they were eliminated in the NL Championship Series by Arizona after leading 2-0 and 3-2 in the series.
This time, the Phillies are determined to go all the way and finally achieve their goal.
The team’s only World Series wins came in 1980 and 2008.
