Bryce

Harper

Dombroswki described Harper’s 2025 campaign as something less than an elite season like he’s had in the past during his end of year press conference. It’s notable that Dombrowski has spent time downplaying his remarks and recently told The New York Post that “Harper’s not getting traded.” The 33-year-old generational talent, who batted .261/.357/.487 with 27 homers this past season, has passed the midway point of his 13-year megadeal with the Phillies. He’s owed $144 million over the remaining six years and has a full no-trade clause. It’s notable that he expressed some frustration with Dombrowski’s remarks, but it doesn’t seem like there’s a strong possibility he’ll be on the move this winter.

Turner returns as Philadelphia’s top-of-the-order table-setter to kick off the postseason after missing a significant portion of September recovering from a hamstring strain. The 32-year-old power/speed combo fantasy star played five innings during last Sunday’s regular-season finale. Here’s the full lineup that will square off against Dodgers two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani in his first career postseason start at Citizens Bank Park: Turner (SS), Kyle Schwarber (DH), Bryce Harper (1B), Alec Bohm (3B), Brandon Marsh (LF), J.T. Realmuto (C), Max Kepler (RF), Harrison Bader (CF) and Bryson Stott (2B).

Otto Kemp is on the bench after filling in for Harper the last two days.

Harper will miss a third straight game while dealing with his ailment. The Phillies will also be without J.T. Realmuto (finger) in this borderline meaningless game against the Marlins. Harper should be back in the coming days.

It’s not a significant concern for the playoff-bound Phillies with a handful of days left in the regular season, but they’re presumably going to give Harper as much time off as he needs to get back to full strength ahead of next week’s playoff action. Fantasy managers should consider him day-to-day for now.

It doesn’t sound like an injury is involved, but it’s odd timing, considering the Phillies had Monday off and are facing a right-hander in Edward Cabrera tonight. Harper is even 4-for-10 with a homer off Cabrera in his career. The Phillies have Otto Kemp at first base tonight.

Harper hit a go-ahead homer off Alex Vesia in the eighth inning tonight, only for Andy Pages to tie it back up with a solo shot in the bottom of the ninth. The Phillies went on to win in 10 after a J.T. Realmuto sac fly went unanswered in the bottom of the inning.

Harper put his Phillies ahead with a go-ahead, two-run shot in the third inning and they never looked back. It was an impressive shot too, traveling an estimated 400 feet to the opposite field. That gave Harper three homers over the past week and nine over the last month as he’s officially caught fire.

Harper smacked an RBI double off of David Peterson in the fifth inning that pulled the Phillies to within a run at 4-3. He then plated another run with an infield single in the sixth inning that made it 6-4 and capped off the scoring in the contest. It has been a bit of a down year offensively for the 32-year-old superstar, slashing .264/.354/.498 with 25 homers, 70 RBI and 11 stolen bases across his 523 plate appearances.

It’s Harper’s first game in the leadoff spot since the final day of the 2022 season (which was also the only time he did so in 2022). The Phillies could have moved up Bryson Stott with Trea Turner out, but they’ve elected to keep stacking their best hitters at the very top. Stott, who spent 38 games as a leadoff man in the first half of the season, is batting seventh tonight.