After the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday clinched a third consecutive playoff appearance, they shook hands on the field and walked back toward the dugout as though it were any other regular-season victory.
Moments later, manager Rob Thomson gathered his players in the clubhouse and thanked them during a tempered champagne toast acknowledging their significant achievement.
However, there was no wild party, with grown men spraying booze and guzzling beer and soaking each other in glee.
Photo: AFP
Not just yet, anyway.
“Pretty calm and relaxed from what it usually turns into,” All-Star third baseman Alec Bohm said with a chuckle.
Qualifying for the post-season is a long way from winning the MLB World Series. Nobody knows that better than the Phillies these days — and they have much loftier goals than simply taking part.
Photo: Kirby Lee-Imagn / USA Today
“You look around and you see all the talent, you see all the guys, you see the front office, the moves they make and things like that, you look at it on paper at the beginning of the year and this team should be in the playoffs,” Bohm said. “So it’s good that we’ve stayed healthy throughout the year and done all the things we need to do to get to this point. Now it’s just a matter of, keep going.”
Bryce Harper and the Phillies punched their latest playoff ticket — this one long expected — with a 12-2 blowout of the New York Mets.
Assured at least a National League wild-card, Philadelphia can secure their first NL East title since 2011 with one more win this weekend against the second-placed New York Mets at Citi Field.
“It’s hard to go wire-to-wire, and I think our team’s done a great job obviously this whole season,” Harper said. “We’ve got bigger goals and things like that, but this is a great moment.”
In Los Angeles, Shohei Ohtani set a major-league record by homering and stealing a base in the same game for the 14th time as the Los Angeles Dodgers rallied to beat the Colorado Rockies 6-4.
The win reduced the NL West-leading Dodgers’ magic number to four to clinch the division. They are already assured of a post-season berth.
Ohtani’s 52nd homer and 52nd stolen base allowed him to break the previous mark of 13 games with at least one of each set by Rickey Henderson in 1986 with the New York Yankees.
“He’s lights out clearly,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I think he’s ramped up his focus.”
Elsewhere on Friday, it was:
‧ Astros 9, Angels 7
‧ Athletics 2, Yankees 4
‧ Brewers 4, Diamondbacks 7
‧ Cardinals 1, Guardians 5
‧ Cubs 3, Nationals 1
‧ Marlins 4, Braves 3
‧ Orioles 7, Tigers 1
‧ Padres 3, White Sox 2 (10i)
‧ Rangers 2, Mariners 8
‧ Rays 1, Blue Jays 0
‧ Red Sox 2, Twins 4
‧ Reds 8, Pirates 3
‧ Royals 1, Giants 2
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