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Bryce Harper Wants To Win By Any Means Necessary Even If He's Not The Star

Originally posted on Philadelphia Phillies on SI
By Brad Wakai | Last updated Sep 12, 2025 7:46 PM ET

The Philadelphia Phillies have been Bryce Harper's team since he signed the 13-year, $330 million deal on March 2, 2019 that was the then-most expensive contract in MLB history.

Harper signing with the Phillies marked a new era for this franchise, one the fanbase was starving for after the legendary core that brought Philadelphia the World Series in 2008 and so much success from 2007-11 was disbanded.

The superstar immediately became the face of the franchise, and it didn't take long for him to prove why he was paid all that money with a 35-homer, 114-RBI debut season in 2019. But it was in 2021 and 2022 when Harper really jumped into folk hero status, winning his second NL MVP Award in 2021 and putting together iconic playoff moments in 2022 to lead the Phillies back to the World Series.

Three years removed from that run, as Philadelphia starts to play their best baseball heading into October, Harper is no longer the brightest star on this roster.

Kyle Schwarber just made franchise history with his 50th home run of the season. The starting pitching staff has become a show each time they take the mound even without Zack Wheeler available. Jhoan Duran has his own special entrance that lights up the crowd in the stands. And Harrison Bader has become the guy who has the "it" factor.

Many people outside and inside the organization have wondered how that might affect Harper, someone who has been the center of attention throughout his entire baseball life.

Bryce Harper Only Cares About Winning

But Harper says he doesn't care about any of that.

"Kyle is obviously having an incredible year, in a contract year as well. He's going to have that hype around him," he said, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (subscription required). "I've never been that type of guy where I wanted it to be my team or someone else's team. Our main goal is winning. That's everybody's mindset."

Philadelphia has done a whole lot of winning recently. They put the disheartening sweep at the hands of the New York Mets in Citi Field from Aug. 25-27 behind them with an 11-3 record after that, returning the favor against the Mets with a four-game sweep of their own.

During that time, Harper has largely been an afterthought. His wRC+ of 122 is eighth on the team -- which shows just how good everyone else is playing -- while his fWAR of 0.3 is seventh. Even his four home runs and eight RBIs have largely gone under the radar because it feels like he hasn't provided the magical moments he is known for despite the production he's had.

Drive 'em home Bryce! pic.twitter.com/Z05kHmOhFx
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) September 12, 2025

But Harper isn't thinking about that right now. He's using the final stretch of the regular season to get ready for the playoffs, the stretch of games where "The Showman" has consistently delivered during his Phillies tenure to the tune of going 38-for-112 (.339) with 12 home runs, 29 extra-base hits and 24 RBIs.

"I'm just trying to have a good last three weeks and take that into the postseason. You know I love playing in the postseason, the bright lights, the bigger moments, things like that. I'm super excited for that opportunity," he said.

Philadelphia and Harper are going to get that opportunity. They are close to locking up back-to-back NL East titles for the first time since that fabled group from the previous era accomplished that feat. And when it happens, all the attention will be on winning in the postseason, which is when Harper can remind everyone of the superstar he is.