If you'd checked out on this Phillies team a few weeks ago, nobody would have blamed you. The vibes were rough, the bats were quiet, and the rotation looked like it was running on fumes. Then this weekend happened, and all of a sudden the lineup is doing the thing, the ace is doing the thing, and even the rookie in center is doing the thing. Welcome back to dreaming.
Start with Harper, because of course you start with Harper. The man stepped in and absolutely obliterated a baseball — the kind of swing where the broadcast booth just goes silent for a second because there's nothing to say. It went to the bridge. Not near the bridge. THE bridge.
Harper's swing and the moonshot that followed, in all its glory.
Just in case you needed a second angle to confirm that yes, a human being actually did that to a baseball.
Another look at Harper's bomb, this one with the full flight path.
And the wild part is the homer wasn't even the most dominant performance on the day. Cristopher Sanchez went out and dropped a dozen punchouts, which is the kind of starter line that makes October feel a lot closer than it did last week. When your front-of-the-rotation guy is missing bats like that, the math on this team starts to look very different.
A reel of Sanchez piling up the strikeouts.
Then Justin Crawford went out and stole somebody's hit with a full-extension grab in center, the kind of catch that gets a rookie his nickname for the rest of the year. Pitching, slugging, defense — all in one game. That's not a vibes win. That's a real one.
Crawford laying out for the web gem in center.
The fair caveat, as Hubbs flagged, is that the recent damage has come against Atlanta and an intra-division opponent, so you're not allowed to throw the parade route together just yet. But for a fanbase that's been told to settle down for most of the spring, this is the first stretch where the dream is back on the table — and that's worth something.
The case for why Phillies fans get to start dreaming again, with the honest asterisk attached.
This is why you’re allowed to dream of a title. They figured this out when it seemed hopeless. Also worth noting the numbers have come against Atlanta and Philly, but it’s so promising to see.