Bryce Harper expects change in Philadelphia after another disappointing October.
The Phillies have gone three straight seasons without winning a playoff series after pushing the Diamondbacks to a seven-game series in the NLCS in 2023.
But Harper says next season will be different in Philadelphia after yet another failure early in the fall.
“Every year is so different from the year before. I don’t really look back on previous years or what happened or anything,” Harper said after being cut by the Braves. “It was a whole new team. Obviously we had the guys that are the core group that we are.
“I imagine this team will be a lot different next year with the guys leaving this clubhouse. So, we’ll see.”
Since 2023, the Phillies suffered NLDS exits in 2024 and 2025 before losing to the Braves in the wild-card round this week.
In 2026, Philadelphia finished with an 88-74 record and needed a win in Game 162 to secure its fifth straight playoff berth.
The Phillies had won at least 90 games in each of the previous three regular seasons.
Harper, a two-time MVP and nine-time All-Star, is signed with the team through 2031 and turns 34 in two weeks.
“You’re here to do business. You’re here to win games, and we didn’t do that,” Harper said after their 6-2 Game 3 loss in Atlanta.
Harper wasn’t entirely on an island either.
Phillies starter Aaron Nola, who has been with the major league club since 2015, also pointed out the team’s shortcomings, particularly the fact that not everything was happening at the right time this season.
“Obviously, we’d like to win a World Series with these guys. We’ve been together for quite a while, and we have a good clubhouse, and you know, good characters on this team,” Nola said. “We know what type of guys are here. We know what type of players we have and what we are capable of.
“(We have to) play well at the right time.”
Interim manager Don Mattingly also spoke about the team’s loss and what contributed to it.
“You’d like to be able to get your pitch ready and have them rested and all that kind of stuff,” said Mattingly, who stepped down as Phillies skipper Friday. “But that’s not how it happened.
“We had to fight to get in, and to do what we had to do to get in, we had to do what we had to do pretty much every game in the series.”
Gn sports
