Bryce Harper Anticipates Phillies Roster Changes After Latest Playoff Exit

Bryce Harper anticipates a different-looking Philadelphia Phillies team next season, following another postseason disappointment.

The Phillies have now gone three consecutive seasons without winning a playoff series. Their latest exit came this week in the wild-card round against the Braves, a stark contrast to their deep run in the 2023 NLCS that ended in a seven-game series against the Diamondbacks.

"Each year’s so different than the year before. I don’t really put stock into years before or what happened or anything else," Harper stated after the team's elimination. "This was a brand new team. Obviously, we had the guys that are part of that core group that we are.

I’d imagine this team is going to look a lot different next year with the guys that are leaving this clubhouse. So, we’ll see."

Since their 2023 playoff success, the Phillies have faced National League Division Series exits in 2024 and 2025 before their first-round loss in 2026. That season, the team finished with an 88-74 record, clinching their fifth consecutive postseason berth with a victory on the final day of the regular season.

Prior to 2026, the Phillies had achieved at least 90 wins in each of the three preceding regular seasons.

Harper, a two-time MVP and nine-time All-Star, is under contract with the Phillies through the 2031 season. He will turn 34 in two weeks.

"You’re here to do business. You’re here to win games, and we didn’t do that," Harper said following the team's 6-2 Game 3 loss in Atlanta.

Pitcher Aaron Nola, who has been with the Phillies since 2015, also reflected on the team's shortcomings, particularly their inability to perform at the crucial moments this season.

"Obviously, we’d love to win a World Series with these guys. We’ve been together quite a while, and we’ve got a good clubhouse, and you know, good characters on this team," Nola commented. "We know what type of guys are in here. We know what type of players we have, and what we’re capable of.

(We need to) kind of play good at the right time."

Interim manager Don Mattingly, who departed his role as Phillies skipper on Friday, also addressed the team's loss and the factors contributing to it.

"You’d love to be able to set your pitching up and them be rested and all that kind of stuff," Mattingly said. "But that’s not the way it went.

We had to fight to get ourselves in, and to do what we had to do to get in, we had to do what we had to do basically every game in the series."