Forever linked, Bryce Harper and Manny Machado proving their worth as MLB playoff race heats up
PHOENIX — Manny Machado and Bryce Harper grew up on opposite sides of the country, one from South Florida and the other from Las Vegas, meeting for the first time as teenagers, winning a gold medal together at the junior Pan Am Games in 2009.
Their baseball careers have run closely parallel ever since.
They were selected two picks apart in the 2010 Major League Baseball draft, with Harper going first and Machado third then played their home games just 41 miles from one another, in Washington, D.C., and Baltimore. They made their major-league debut the same year in 2012, hit free agency at the same time, and signed $630 million worth of contracts one week apart in the spring of 2019.
The East Coast kid (Machado) went West to San Diego, and the West Coast kid (Harper) went East to Philadelphia.
“It’s really weird, right?’’ Phillies manager Joe Girardi said before Tuesday’s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks. “They didn’t stay close to home, either one of them. They made their spring training cities far away from their homes.’’
Here they are, intertwined again, each having MVP-caliber seasons, each heavily booed wherever they travel, and each heavily responsible for keeping their teams in the playoff hunt.
“I’m grateful to be here man, and I couldn’t have picked a better organization, a better city to be part of this," Machado tells USA TODAY Sports. “I know I can’t be any happier with the way things turned out. And I know Bryce loves it over there, too. It’s been a great experience for him, too.
“At the end of the day, I think it turned out pretty well for both of us.’’
Harper indeed believes he made the perfect choice coming to Philadelphia, earning a 13-year, $330 million contract.
Machado could have gone to the Chicago White Sox instead of the Padres and right now would be sitting back and making postseason plans, considering the team's massive 12-game lead in the AL Central.
Instead, these two mega-stars are savoring the responsibility of trying to lead their struggling teams into the postseason, and who knows, even facing one another in the National League playoffs.
The Padres, 67-56, have lost seven of their last eight games, and are clinging to a 1 ½-game lead over the Cincinnati Reds in the wild-card race.
The Phillies, 61-59, have lost six of their last eight games entering Thursday afternoon, and are 3 ½ games behind Atlanta in the NL Eastand 4 ½ games behind the Padres in the wild-card race.
Harper and Machado will meet Friday at Petco Park in San Diego for a three-game series, allowing them to catch up on good times before the game, before fiercely battling on the field, knowing the importance of the weekend.
“You got two really good players who are so competitive,’’ Girardi said. “I know with Bryce, we got a guy who wants to play every day. He’s going to play hard. And he expects a lot from himself.
“He expects a lot from his teammates, and when he doesn’t do well, he’s not happy with himself.’’
Certainly, the same goes for Machado. Teammate Fernando Tatis Jr. may be the favorite for the MVP award with his league-leading 34 homers and 23 stolen bases, but considering that Tatis has been on the injured list three times this season, while Machado has been their steady rock, the Padres believe they have co-MVPs.
“It blows my mind that people aren’t talking about Manny for MVP,’’ Padres first baseman Eric Hosmer says. “You kidding me? Look at the Gold Glove defense he plays at third base. Look at the numbers, the RBI, the home runs, and the fact that he posts every single game.
“He’s doing it all, man, and has been such a big leader for us. Without him, we wouldn’t even be in this position.’’
Machado, 29, who has had four top-10 MVP finishes, again is having a dominant season. He is hitting .278 with 21 homers and 80 RBI with an .826 OPS, just six RBI off the league lead.
“We have that argument all of the time about RBI,’’ Machado says. “People try to say it’s overrated. That’s crazy. How do you win games? You win by scoring the most runs, and you’re not going to score unless someone is driving in those runs. That means you’re doing something productive for your ballclub.’’
Yet, you ask Machado his proudest statistic, and it’s simply the name that shows up every day in the boxscore:
Games played.
Machado has not been on the injured list since 2014, playing in 968 of his teams' 993 games the past seven seasons.
“I take so much pride in games played,’’ says Machado, who missed eight games in May with a strained shoulder, but avoided the injured list. “Even if you’re just 50%, or sick, I’m on the field. I feel like I can make a difference whether it’s with the bat, the glove, on the basepaths, or even with my presence.
“The way I was raised was to go out there and grind every single day. You do that, by the end of the year, your numbers will be there. But you’ve got to be on the field.’’
Harper, who had missed only 10 games from 2018-2020 – until being hit in the face on April 28 and suffering a forearm contusion that eventually required a stint on the injured list – is having his best season since arriving to Philadelphia.
Harper is hitting .294 this season with 22 homers, 50 RBI and a .978 OPS. His 166-plus OPS is the highest since winning the National League MVP in 2015 with the Washington Nationals.
Harper has been dealing with back issues of late, Girardi says, requiring daily treatment that kept him off the field for batting practice in Arizona, but was still in the lineup, hitting a home run one night and throwing out a baserunner at home on another.
“He’s everything I expected,’’ said veteran outfielder Andre McCutchen, who also signed with Philadephia as a free agent in the 2018-19 offseason. “He has all of the natural ability, but he puts in so much work day in and day out. I’ve seen him after games in the cage, hitting in the cage for who knows how long? He doesn’t take it lightly. It’s admirable
“He plays the game hard. He runs hard. He never settles. He’s out there every single day working and trying to help the team win.
“Really, he’s what you see. He’s not putting on some cape and being someone he’s not. It’s who he is. He’s going to play the game hard, and play with a lot of emotion, and will do everything possible to beat you.’’
The stars fans love to hate
Yet, while Harper and Machado are heroes in San Diego and Philadelphia, they are universally hated on the road.
You name the town, no matter what the ballpark, they are loudly booed.
Harper, who graced the cover of Sports Illustrated when he was 16, is jeered every place he goes outside the confines of Philadelphia. Machado gets it everywhere outside San Diego and his hometown of Miami.
“They love to hate Manny for some reason, man,’’ Hosmer says, “but I don’t think they realize he thrives off that. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard the word 'overrated' and the next pitch is a home run somewhere. It’s fun for me because I get to turn around and smirk at whoever said that.’’
Says Padres coach Wayne Kirby, who was with Machado in Baltimore: “I’m like, 'Why ya’ll booing him?' When is enough, enough? Before games, you see people asking for his autograph, and then they start booing him during the game.
“People don’t realize when you boo him, all you do is wake him up.’’
Machado knows he’ll always be booed in Boston and blamed for former second baseman Dustin Pedroia’s Achilles injury sliding aggressively into second base in 2017. They’ll always boo him in Milwaukee for kicking first baseman Jesus Aguilar in the foot while running down the line during the 2018 playoffs. And Oakland A’s fans will never be convinced that he unintentionally threw his bat in 2014, drawing a five-game suspension.
“I know people love to villainize him,’’ said Padres bench coach Bobby Dickerson. “Whether intentional or not, there have been a couple of childish things in the past, but there are things he gets blamed for that’s not right.
“But his core is pure and good. He’s just a wonderful dude. I just wish other people could see that. But he’s real guarded with that, and doesn’t want people on the outside to know what a leader he is in here, talking to the young guys and orchestrating team dinners on the road.
“Maybe he’ll be mad at me for telling people, but he’s a good person.’’
Machado, who signed a 10-year, $300 million contract, and calls his new home “paradise,’’ says all he cares about is that he’s respected and admired by his teammates and Padre fans. You want to boo him, feel free. The louder the better. It means he must be doing something right.
“At the end of the day, it’s just noise,’’ Machado says. “Obviously, I get booed everywhere I go, but they’re not booing you for no reason. As a good friend of mine told me, “Better that they boo you than not talking about you.’ They’re watching what I’m doing and don’t want me to beat their ballclub.
“I’m fine with it.’’
It’s no different from Harper, who says he thrives on the crowd negativity. The louder the boos, the more intensity.
“I love the boos and the hate a little bit,’’ Harper said this spring. “I’ve been hearing it since I was 12 or 13 years old, so it’s kind of normal. That’s sports.’’
Still, his teammates find it rather absurd, and although it may not bother Harper, Girardi still can’t figure out all of the hatred.
“I don’t if I’ve ever really been around a player who has gotten booed as much as he has,’’ Girardi says. “I don’t really understand it. It’s not like he’s in the headlines doing bad things, right? You see him run hard, play the game the right way, so I don’t get it.
“I don’t know if it’s because he was on the cover of Sports Illustrated at such a young age, or what, but he didn’t ask to go on there.’’
Says reliever Archie Bradley: “I think I knew it before I got here, but it was confirmed, just how badly the guy wants to win. His want to win is as high as I’ve ever seen.’’
While the Phillies haven’t bene to the postseason since 2011, they at least won the World Series in 2008.
The Padres got a taste of the postseason last year, but have never won the World Series in their 53-year franchise history.
“It’s going to be so special when we win that World Series, and bring a championship to the city of San Diego,’’ Machado said. “The organization needs it. The city has been wanting it. The first one, the city would go crazy.
“It’s going to happen one day, maybe for both of us. I just know it.
“It’s going to be pretty special considering everything we’ve both been through.’’
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Bryce Harper, Manny Machado – parallel MLB stars – fight for playoffs
