{"id":100248,"date":"2022-10-18T03:54:36","date_gmt":"2022-10-18T03:54:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/harper-machado-tangle-in-wild-card-nlcs-between-phils-pads\/"},"modified":"2022-10-18T03:54:36","modified_gmt":"2022-10-18T03:54:36","slug":"harper-machado-tangle-in-wild-card-nlcs-between-phils-pads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/harper-machado-tangle-in-wild-card-nlcs-between-phils-pads\/","title":{"rendered":"Harper, Machado tangle in wild-card NLCS between Phils, Pads"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

SAN DIEGO (AP) \u2014 Either Bryce Harper or Manny Machado will be playing in the World Series this year.<\/p>\n

Harper’s Philadelphia Phillies will face Machado’s San Diego Padres in an all-wild card NL Championship Series starting Tuesday night at Petco Park. It’s not exactly the matchup most fans would have predicted, but neither slugger is about to apologize about their teams making thrilling October runs<\/span> as the two lowest seeds.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think, honestly, we’ve got the two best teams going up against each other, and it’s going to be a fun week for sure,\u201d said Machado, who had an MVP-caliber season as he carried the Padres in the absence of star shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr.<\/p>\n

The 89-win Padres, who have benefited from veteran manager Bob Melvin’s calm style during his first year as their skipper, went to New York and beat the 101-win Mets in the wild-card round. Then they eliminated the Los Angeles Dodgers, baseball’s best team with a franchise-record 111 wins, by winning three straight games after losing the opener on the road.<\/p>\n

The 87-win Phillies are the No. 6 seeds. They downed the NL Central champion St. Louis Cardinals in the wild-card round and then beat the defending World Series champion Atlanta Braves, who took the NL East title with 101 wins, in the division series.<\/p>\n

That sent the Phillies and their hot bats to San Diego, which was back to being sunny and 72 degrees for Monday’s workout after a rare October rainstorm drenched the ballpark during the electric Game 4 clincher against the Dodgers on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople kind of counted us both out, right?\u201d said Harper, who missed two months after breaking his left thumb when he was hit by a pitch by San Diego’s Blake Snell at Petco Park on June 25. \u201cI think it was LA or the Braves or the Mets are going to win because those three teams are so dynamic and they had such great regular seasons, as they always do.”<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it is going to be a great series,\u201d Harper added. \u201cIt’s going to be a lot of fun. I know we’re looking forward to it as a team and the opportunity to come in here and win a game hopefully and get home.\u201d<\/p>\n