After only three seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies, Bryce Harper has his first MVP Award with the team.

Bryce put up amazing numbers the entire season, crushing .309/.429/.615 with 84 RBIs and 35 home runs. Harper’s great numbers this year led the Phillies to their first finish with a Positive record since 2011, and just missing the playoffs by 2 games, falling short to the World Series Champions, the Atlanta Braves.

Harper’s most dominant stretch in the 2021 season would be after august 1st. In 27 games in the month of august, Harper put up HOF numbers, hitting .323/.444/.774 with an OPS of 1.219. In the same month hitting 10 home runs, 10 doubles, and walked 21 times. This month alone was enough to push Bryce into the MVP conversation by early September. 

Harper’s name in the running for MVP is nothing new for the slugger, Harper brought home his first MVP in 2015 with the Washington Nationals with arguably one of the best resumes to ever be posted for MVP. Hitting .330/.460/.649 with 99 RBIs and a league leading 42 home runs, with an OPS of 1.109/OPS+ 192. His numbers were unarguably the best of the year and he had no competition for MVP that year.

This year was a different story, competition for MVP was close with Juan Soto coming in right behind Harper and Fernando Tatis Jr. having a close but not impressive enough MVP push during the first half of the season. Many people think Juan Soto, Harper’s former teammate, was snubbed of his First MVP. Although he had very impressive numbers the second half of the season, Soto’s .313/.465/.534 with an .999 OPS was not enough for the slugger to pass Harper in the voting.

Even after all the controversy about the real MVP, Soto didn’t seem fazed by the decision, later congratulating his former teammate on Instagram, “Congratulations to my former teammate Bryce Harper. Enjoy your second MVP, much love! Thank you for everything…I’ll see you next year!” Soto plans to take an MVP home to Washington within the next few years.

Although Harper had an amazing year on offense and defense for the Phillies, the MVP award also takes Leadership into consideration. Harper led his team to a positive record for the first time since 2011, the last time Philadelphia had a winning Baseball team, Bryce Harper was a senior in high school.

Harper’s impact, positivity, dedication, and love toward the Phillies Organization and the City of Philadelphia is unmatched in any other city.

Bryce is most definitely the most liked athlete in Philadelphia right now and with 10 years still left on his contract it seems as if it will be a trend for a while.