Philadelphia Phillies

The Philadelphia Phillies' Bryce Harper and Bryson Stott are doing their best to ingratiate themselves to fans in London.

During batting practice, Harper showed off a bat that features the Phillie Phanatic dressed like a member of the King's Guard. Stott's piece of lumber was plastered with the London Underground logo:

Not to be outdone, New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor commissioned his own customized bat:

The Phillies and Mets have a pair of games scheduled at the London Stadium over the next two days. It's the third installment of the London Series, which started in 2019 and only returned in 2023 amid an interruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The matchup probably sounded a little better before this season got underway. While Philadelphia owns the best record in MLB (44-19), New York is fourth in the National League East and the subject of regular consternation in the Big Apple.

Once again pitting two divisional rivals against one another has at least created some unintentional comedy. Who doesn't love simultaneously supporting both the Mets and Phillies?

If you traveled to London for the game and didn't manage to find a soccer-inspired half-and-half scarf, did you even go?

Harper and Stott will certainly have some keepsakes from their trek overseas.

Philadelphia Phillies slugger Bryce Harper already has his sights set on playing baseball for Team USA at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

"I would love to be part of that," Harper said, per Roshane Thomas of The Athletic.

"If I have a chance to put my nation's colors on and represent as I did at 18 and 16 then I would love it," he added.

Despite the sport's absence during the 2024 Summer Olympics, it was announced in Oct. 2023 that baseball will return in 2028.

Harper hasn't represented the U.S. since he made it to the majors in 2012, and he missed out on playing in the 2023 World Baseball Classic due to an elbow issue. However, he explained that the Olympics holds more significance in his eyes compared to the WBC.

"We have the WBC but it's not the same," Harper said, via Thomas. "People can say as much as they want but the Olympics is so worldwide. The WBC is great and brings a lot of people together, but the Olympics is something you dream about playing in."

While MLB players haven't been featured on Olympic teams in the past due to conflicts with the league's regular-season schedule, that may change in 2028. The Athletic's Evan Drellich reported on Feb. 7 that some MLB owners are "increasingly supportive" of sending major league players to the Games.

While Harper will be 35 years old by the time the 2028 Olympics start, he's still remained an imposing force at the plate as he's entered his early 30s. In 2024, he's hitting .268 with a .890 OPS while his 14 home runs are tied for the No. 3 mark among all National League players.

Harper has helped the Phillies get off to a blazing hot start, owning the top overall record in the NL at 44-19.

Even though he has played on teams that finished with the National League's best record twice and another that made the World Series, Bryce Harper believes the 2024 Philadelphia Phillies are on a different level.

Appearing on MLB Network's MLB Central before the Phillies' series against the New York Mets in London, Harper said this year's club is "probably the best team I've been on."

Harper has been on several standout teams in his career. During his rookie season with the Washington Nationals in 2012, they finished with the best record in MLB (98-64). Two years later, they posted the best record in the NL (96-66).

The 2014 team had five pitchers who made at least 25 starts with an ERA of 3.57 or better. Stephen Strasburg had arguably the best year of his career with a 3.14 ERA, 1.12 WHIP and 242 strikeouts in 34 starts.

Philadelphia is just two years removed from reaching the World Series, but that team only won 87 games during the regular season and looked vulnerable going into the postseason with a 14-17 record over its final 31 games.

There have been no such concerns for the Phillies through their first 63 games this season. Their 44-19 record is 5.5 games ahead of the No. 2 team in the NL. They rank second in MLB in runs scored (320) and ERA (2.92), trailing only the New York Yankees in both categories.

If the Phillies are looking for more reasons to be optimistic, they have done this with Trea Turner having been on the injured list since May 4 with a strained hamstring. He was hitting .343/.392/.460 before suffering the injury.

Edmundo Sosa has stepped in at shortstop during Turner's absence and is basically hitting as well as the two-time All-Star. The 28-year-old has a .294/.357/.539 slash line in 113 plate appearances.

As if that wasn't enough, the rotation has four starters with sub-3.00 ERAs. Aaron Nola is the "worst" pitcher from that quartet with a 2.77 ERA in 13 starts.

While there is still a lot of season left to play, it's not hard to look at the Phillies as the favorite to represent the NL in the World Series based on the depth in their rotation and starting lineup.

Benches cleared during Wednesday's matchup between the Philadelphia Phillies and San Francisco Giants after Kyle Harrison nearly hit Bryce Harper on back-to-back up-and-in pitches, which the superstar slugger didn't appreciate.

Harper ultimately grounded out to shortstop, with runners on second and third, to end the top of the fourth inning.

In April 2021, Harper took a 97 mph sinker to the face from St. Louis Cardinals reliever Génesis Cabrera, forcing him to leave the game and undergo a CT scan.

In June 2022, Blake Snell hit him with a 97-mph fastball, fracturing his thumb and costing him two months on the injured list. He was able to return late that season and help the Phillies reach the World Series.

Harper also has a bit of a history with the Giants. Exactly seven years ago, during his time with the Washington Nationals, Harper charged the mound after being struck by San Francisco reliever Hunter Strickland, with the two exchanging punches in a benches-clearing brawl between the teams.

This year, the 31-year-old slugger is hitting .267 with 13 homers, 41 RBI, 32 runs and a .901 OPS, putting himself in the MVP conversation. He's been in a bit of a mini-slump of late, with no hits in the three games before Wednesday's matchup with the Giants.

The Phillies have also hit a rough patch, currently mired in their first three-game losing streak of the season. It's generally been an amazing start to the year, however, with Philly still owning the best mark in baseball at 38-18.

That has helped the team open a five-game lead over the Atlanta Braves in the NL East. The Braves have won the division six straight times, though the Phillies have eliminated them from the past two postseasons.

If you're a high school student trying to find the best way to ask someone to go to the prom, Bryce Harper is willing to stand by your side as a wingman for the big moment.

The Philadelphia Phillies superstar accompanied a fan, who attends Haddonfield Memorial High School in New Jersey, to a young woman's house to ask her to the prom.

Jake Portello, a senior at the school, explained on The Phantastic Sports Show (h/t Fox 29 in Philadelphia) he got Harper to take part in the event simply by going to his house and asking him.

"I knocked on his door. He seemed cool with it at first, then he was like, 'Can I get your email so we can plan this out?' and as I was leaving he was like, 'Why don't we do this right now?'" Portello said.

Harper, based on the video, seems to be a very good wingman. He asked the young woman, Giulia, if she would go to the prom with Jake. The two-time NL MVP may not be as good at it as, say, Vince Vaughn's character in Swingers, but it was effective enough to get the job done.

One downside to the situation, at least for Jake, is Giulia initially seemed more interested in Harper's presence than his. Harper was the one who got the first hug before Giulia did go to Jake.

It's unclear if Giulia is a fan of either the Phillies and/or Harper. Her reaction when she opened the door at least indicates she knows who he is, which is definitely a plus. It would have been strange if she looked confused at who this person was asking her to the prom for Jake.

Another thing that's unclear about this whole thing is how readily available Harper's home address is. Jake's recounting of the situation doesn't make it sound like he had any problems finding the place.

"I wasn't expecting this. I thought it'd be something cool among my friends and people in my town and stuff," Jake said on The Phantastic Sports Show. "I didn't even expect [Harper] to open the door in the first place."

Harper never got to experience the prom as he was growing up. He left high school two years early, instead opting to earn his GED, and enrolled at the College of Southern Nevada to become draft eligible at the age of 17 in 2010.

Unfortunately Harper won't be able to help chaperone the Haddonfield Memorial High School prom on June 14. The Phillies will be playing the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards on that night.

A 70-year-old woman in Pennsylvania claims she was scammed out of $50,000 by a person pretending to be Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Trea Turner.

The woman told Kelly Rule of Fox 29 Philadelphia the alleged scammer first reached out on Facebook last July after she had written comments defending Turner amid his sluggish start to the season.

She said she remained skeptical but that the man was "relentless" and "convincing."

"He's repeating things that I knew Trea Turner did on the ballfield," she said. "He kept harping on it for about three weeks so finally I said, 'Alright, what do you want?'"

The man claiming to be Turner "explained that he was not getting along with his wife and needed help with various properties to keep it quiet," per Rule.

It was only after sending the man more than $50,000 across multiple payments that the woman realized she was being scammed and contacted local authorities. A lieutenant for the Towamencin Township Police Department said there aren't yet any local suspects.

A spokesperson for the Phillies, citing the ongoing investigation, declined to comment on the story.

Turner is in the second year of the 11-year, $300 million contract he signed with the Phillies during the 2023 offseason.

Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Trea Turner told reporters he expects to miss six weeks with a hamstring injury,

The Phillies announced before Saturday's game against the San Francisco Giants that Turner had been placed on the 10-day injured list with a hamstring strain and that Kody Clemens has been called up to take his spot on the 26-man roster.

The injury occurred in the fourth inning of Friday's 4-3 win over the Giants. Turner scored from second on a passed ball that hit off the glove of Patrick Bailey, but he was replaced at shortstop by Edmundo Sosa to start the top of the fifth.

Turner joined the Phillies on an 11-year, $300 million contract in December 2022. He became the second player on the team to receive a deal worth at least $300 million, joining Bryce Harper (13 years, $330 million).

Turner was supposed to be a significant upgrade at shortstop for the Phillies. Bryson Stott was their primary starter at the position in 2022. He is a solid defensive player, but only hit .234/.295/.358 in 127 games two years ago.

After a slow start, Turner turned things around in the second half of last season to finish with a .266/.320/.459 slash line, 26 homers and 30 stolen bases in 155 games. He's been much better to open the 2024 campaign with a .343/.392/.460 line in 148 plate appearances.

The Phillies have moved ahead of the Atlanta Braves for first place in the NL East with a 22-11 record early in the season. Bryce Harper, Alec Bohm, Brandon Marsh and Kyle Schwarber will have to shoulder a heavier burden in the lineup to keep the offense going without Turner for the time being.

It helps the Phillies have the best pitching staff in MLB, with Zack Wheeler, Ranger Suárez and Spencer Turnbull all having sub-2.00 ERAs in 115.2 combined innings.

The Chicago White Sox have traded infielder José Rodríguez to the Philadelphia Phillies, the team announced Friday.

Chicago will receive cash considerations in the deal.

Rodríguez, 22, has been in the minors since 2018. Last season, he had 123 hits, 21 home runs, 62 RBI and 31 steals, notching a .262 batting average and a .729 OPS.

Rodríguez was designated for assignment on Thursday.

Chicago designated Rodríguez for assignment to make room on the roster for starting pitcher Mike Clevinger, who the White Sox officially signed on Thursday. Clevinger had 110 strikeouts and a 3.77 ERA in 24 innings for Chicago last season.

Rodríguez appeared in just one game for the White Sox last year, making his MLB debut. In that game, he came in as a pinch runner and made his way to the plate, but has yet to record his first at-bat in the majors.

Before being traded, Rodríguez was the No. 17 prospect for the White Sox in 2024 according to MLB.com.

With an infield consisting of Bryce Harper, Bryson Stott, Trea Turner and Alec Bohm and some talented depth, it would be tough for Rodríguez to get consistent playing time in The Show.

He has shown plenty of promise in the minors with lots of power at the plate, so he could come in and give the Phillies an offensive boost if called upon.