Philadelphia Phillies Clinch First World Series Appearance in 13 Years

By Lily Belcher

The Philadelphia Phillies have made it to the World Series for the first time since 2009 after a narrow 4-3 game 5 win over the San Diego Padres.

Trailing the Padres 3-2 in the bottom of the eight, Bryce Harper launched a two-run homerun into the stands of Citizen Bank Park. Harper followed teammate J.T. Realmuto home, who represented the tying run on first, and waved to the roaring Philadelphia crowd as he crossed the plate to give the Phillies the lead.

“We’ve got four more. Were going to bring this [explicit] home,” promised Harper to Phillies fans.

The Phillies struck first with a two run shot by Rhys Hoskins in the third, driving in Kyle Schwarber from second after he walked and stole second.

Juan Soto put the Padres on the board with a solo homerun to centerfield in the next inning.

Philadelphia starter Zach Wheeler gave up a leadoff base hit to Jake Cronenworth before handing the ball over to Seranthony Dominguez. Dominguez lost control of the ball in the rain allowing Cronenworth to advance to second on a wild pitch. Josh Bell drove him in on an RBI double to tie the game. Jose Azocar, pinch running for Bell, advanced to third and then scored on two wildpitches to give the Padres a one run lead.

In the bottom of the eighth, Harper became the hero of Philadelphia with the game winning two run homer to secure the 4-3 win for the Phillies. He was named the NLCS MVP after going 8-for-20 with the series winning homerun.

The Phillies went into October as the sixth seed after firing Joe Girardi in June. Rob Thomson, who was the bench coach for the Phillies, took over as interim skipper and brought his team from 22-29 under Girardi to World Series contenders. Thomson and the Phillies knocked out the St. Louis Cardinals in the Wild Card Series and 2021 World Series Champions Atlanta Braves in the NLDS, setting them up to defeat the Padres in the NLCS.

“We’ve got one more to go, but for right now, I just want to congratulate everybody, all the players, all the staff, this entire organization, on being national champions,” said Thomson before the locker room champagne shower.

The Phillies will face the winner of the Yankees-Astros ALCS for game one of the Fall Classic on October 28 with hopes to bring home the World Series title for the first time since 2008.