SAN DIEGO — In the past three years, John Middleton committed more than half a billion dollars to three players. He got his money’s worth Tuesday night.
The Phillies beat the Padres, 2-0, in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series and almost everything that mattered came from the big-ticket players.
Kyle Schwarber, the $79 million clubhouse sheriff, launched a 488-foot missile into the second deck of Petco Park at 119.7 mph in the sixth.
Zack Wheeler, whose $118 million deal made him the highest-paid pitcher in Phillies history, dealt seven shutout innings and allowed just two base runners. Doc Holliday would’ve been proud.
And Bryce Harper, the $330 million reigning MVP, started it all off with a 104-mph, opposite-field slicer off Yu Darvish that gave Wheeler the lead in the fourth.
Harper’s 1.411 OPS, four homers, and 11 hits leads all postseason hitters, and his .407 average ranks second. Money man.
Middleton gave general manager Dave Dombrowski permission to exceed the luxury tax this spring for the first time in franchise history. Nights like Tuesday are why they went over.
This is what $527 million looks like when it earns its money.
“Going into spring training, Dave Dombrowski and John Middleton making the decision to go over the tax and give us our best chance to win,” Harper said Monday.
The investments paid dividends all season, really. It began in earnest in this very ballpark, when Blake Snell broke Harper’s thumb and the rest of the squad had to grow up.
J.T. Realmuto, the $115.5 million catcher, became the best catcher in baseball again.
Schwarber got torrid; he finished with 46 homers and led the National League. He was 2-for-21 in the postseason when he led off the sixth with his bomb. The exit velo made it not just the hardest-hit ball of the postseason, but the third-hardest hit ball of 2022.
Even Nick Castellanos, the $100 million luxury hitter and the last big-ticket item of the rebuild, contributed in Harper’s absence. He hit .295, 53 points above his average before Harper got hurt.
There’s no question that the money players were money Tuesday night.
Wheeler’s fastball averaged just under 96 mph this season. It set at just under 98 mph Tuesday night. After a walk to Juan Soto, he retired 12 straight batters before Will Myers got the only hit off him. He then retired the next eight in a row.
Schwarber led off the game with a walk, then singled in the third inning. He was back.
Harper actually hit a ball harder than his homer. He pulled a 106-mph, one-hop laser to second baseman Jake Cronenworth, who had shifted to short right field. There, he dived to his right, popped up on his right knee, and threw Harper out.
Despite his dominance, Wheeler gave way to presumptive closer Seranthony Domínguez in the eighth, after just 83 pitches. Wheeler threw just 79 pitches six days earlier, in Game 2 of the NL Division Series. This light work could make him available for Game 4 on Saturday on three days’ rest, which would eliminate the need for a “bullpen start” for Noah Syndergaard, who was limited to three innings of work in the Game 4 NLDS clincher Saturday.
Domínguez was perfect in the eighth. Jose Alvarado, the 100-mph lefty, stranded two Padres in the ninth to get the save. No doubt manager Rob Thomson was sweating, if he sweats.
Anyway ... Wheeler in Game 4?
Now that would be getting your money’s worth.
