Harper on Phillies' exit - 'You're here to win games, and we didn't' - ESPN

ATLANTA — Bryce Harper doesn't play the shoulda, woulda, coulda game.

The bottom line for the Philadelphia Phillies is they came up short in the postseason again.

«You're here to do business. You're here to win games, and we didn't do that,» Harper said in a subdued Phillies clubhouse Thursday night following their 6-2 loss to the Atlanta Braves in the deciding Game 3 of their National League Wild Card Series.

There would be no excuses coming from the All-Star slugger about a September swoon that prevented the Phillies from lining up their pitching against Atlanta because it took until Game 162 to clinch a playoff spot.

Philadelphia forced Game 3 against the Braves with three dramatic solo home runs late in Game 2. But in the end, the Phillies fell into an early hole Thursday and were eliminated from the postseason for the fifth consecutive year as they chase their first World Series title since 2008.

«You'd love to be able to set your pitching up and them be rested and all that kind of stuff,» interim manager Don 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.»

The Phillies' core of Harper, Kyle Schwarber, J.T. Realmuto, Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola have made five straight playoff appearances and averaged 91 wins per year during that stretch. They have yet to win a championship and have been eliminated further and further from that goal each season since reaching the 2022 World Series.

The following season, Philadelphia exited in the National League Championship Series, and the next two years saw losses in the Division Series. A wild-card exit this season marks another step in