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
‘SOURCE OF PRIDE’: Newspapers rushed out special editions and the government sent their congratulations as Shohei Ohtani became the first player to enter the 50-50 club Japan reacted with incredulity and pride yesterday after Shohei Ohtani became the first player in Major League Baseball to record 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a single season. The Los Angeles Dodgers star from Japan made history with a seventh-inning homer in a 20-4 victory over the Marlins in Miami. “We would like to congratulate him from the bottom of our heart,” top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters in Tokyo. “We sincerely hope Mr Ohtani, who has already accomplished feat after feat and carved out a new era, will thrive further,” he added. The landmark achievement dominated Japanese morning news
When Wang Tao ran away from home aged 17 to become a professional wrestler, he knew it would be a hard slog to succeed in China’s passionate but underdeveloped scene. Years later, he has endured family disapproval, countless side gigs and thousands of hours of brutal training to become China’s “Belt and Road Champion” — but the struggle is far from over. Despite a promising potential domestic market, the Chinese pro wrestling community has been battling for recognition and financial stability for decades. “I have done all kinds of jobs [on the side]... Because in the end, it is very
No team in the CPBL can surpass the Taipei Dome attendance record set by the CTBC Brothers, except when the Brothers team up with Taiwanese rock band Mayday. A record-high 40,000 fans turned out at the indoor baseball venue on Saturday for Brothers veteran Chou Szu-chi’s first farewell game, which was followed by a mini post-game concert featuring Mayday. This broke the previous CPBL record of 34,506 set by the Brothers in early last month, when K-pop singer Hyuna performed after the game, and the dome’s overall record of 37,890 set in early March, which featured the Brothers and the
With a quivering finger, England Subbuteo veteran Rudi Peterschinigg conceded the free-kick that sent his country’s World Cup quarter-final into extra-time before smashing his plastic goalkeeper on the floor in frustration. In the genteel southern English town of Tunbridge Wells, 300 elite players have gathered to play the game they love. “I won’t say this is the best weekend I’ve ever had in my life, but it’s certainly in the top two,” said Hughie Best, 58, who flew in from Perth, Australia, to compete and commentate at the event. Tunbridge Wells is the “spiritual home” of Subbuteo, which was invented there in 1946