The locker room was dressed for a party. Everyone was ready for the champagne to pop after the Philadelphia Phillies took on the Kansas City Royals. All the Phillies needed was one win against the Royals. Instead, there was no toast, because the Royals handed them a royal 10-3 loss! And honestly, this is the last kind of delay that Bryce Harper can tolerate now.

What Harper has wanted ever since he signed that long 13-year, $330 million deal is a World Series ring. “I’m here to play baseball and try to win a World Series. If that gets done this year or any other year, we want to get that done,” Harper said. He has achieved plenty of things, but he still doesn’t have the ring he badly wants.

But here is the thing: Harper alone cannot carry the team forward. No franchise cornerstone alone can do it—just look at where Juan Soto and the Mets are. They signed him for $765 million—yet it seems pointless when they didn’t build around him. For now, the Phillies, too, have a $172 million dilemma that just won’t go away—and that’s to do with Aaron Nola. 

As Inquirer.com laid out, “Nola likely will have two more starts—next weekend in Arizona and the final week of the season against either the Marlins or Twins—to make a case to start a game in the best-of-five divisional round, assuming the Phillies hold off the Dodgers and secure a bye through the wild-card round. It won’t be an easy decision.” See, for sure, Nola has shown stretches of brilliance. Last week, he spun six scoreless innings against the Mets. But then, he lets one inning unravel the game he put up.

Sunday’s game was, for example, a classic case study of the good and bad. Nola started hot and sliced through the Royals’ order in the first four innings. Then came the unraveling—a two-run homer by Jac Caglianone. Then a leadoff triple, a couple of hard-hit doubles, and finally Salvador Perez’s three-run shot. That was the nail in the coffin, and his final line was 5 1/3 innings and seven earned runs. This inconsistency, the kind where Nola lets one inning flip the party into a mess, is the issue.

Still, Nola’s postseason track record is steady—3.70 ERA and five wins in the 2022 and 2023 playoffs. And hence, there is quite a huge dilemma about what exactly to do with him. Thomson is choosing to trust Nola, saying, “Well, you’ve got to take into account his track record, no doubt about it. But I do want to see him throw the ball consistently like he did in the first four or five innings.” Now, whether this will be a speed breaker for the Philadelphia Phillies remains to be seen.

Bryce Harper knows that the Phillies’ core could be headed to a breakup!

Bryce Harper is no novice to the game. He has been around long enough and knows the window to win is not going to be open forever. And that the Phillies’ core is currently on the way to breaking up. Harper sees what’s coming—Kyle Schwarber, J.T. Realmuto, and Ranger Suárez—all three prominent Philly players are probably heading to free agency after this season. And that is huge—not one but three good players heading out.

Harper had mentioned, “We had really two really good opportunities to win a World Series. I would say three, because [2022] as well, we had a great chance to win that year, too. I think everybody should be hungry in this room.” And now, too, the chances are great. Next season, though, is doubtful! Schwarber is maybe the one who is most in the spotlight. Harper declined an extension and then went on and launched 50 home runs this time around. For now, he is lining up to get a $120 million deal this offseason. He deserves it for sure, but can the team afford the number?

Not just him, there is Realmuto. He was once the gold standard when it came to catchers. Sure, he is not in his prime, but his defense and leadership behind the plate make him valuable. And valuable also means expensive. Then there is Suarez. He has done everything to step in brilliantly when Zack Wheeler was sidelined. He brought in the stability, posting a 2.77 ERA, and has been the player the team can rely on.

That kind of performance drives the free agent price tag, too. So whether the team can retain these players altogether is a question mark. The moment right now is to seize the moment, and for Harper, whose dream is to reach the end line, this could be a once-in-a-lifetime chance.