ATLANTA – Ryan Howard posted a 1.259 OPS following the 2006 All-Star break. He hit 30 home runs in 75 games. No player in baseball has a better OPS in the second half since then. Only two players have hit more homers.

Howard’s dominant second-half performance catapulted him to the National League Most Valuable Player Award, despite the Phillies missing the postseason, finishing 12 games behind the Mets in the NL East and three games behind the Dodgers for the NL Wild Card. Howard can appreciate Bryce Harper’s second-half surge in 2021, and how he might win the MVP, despite the Phillies almost certainly missing the postseason for the 10th consecutive year.

“What is the criteria for an MVP?” Howard said this week at Truist Park. “OK, they might not make the playoffs, but if you took him out of the lineup, how much further out are you out of the playoff race? Are we even having this conversation if he’s not doing what he’s doing. Are they 10 games out as opposed to having this series decide who wins the NL East basically?

“I think when it comes to MVP, it’s like, if you took this person out of this lineup, like what would happen?”

Harper entered Thursday night’s series finale in Atlanta batting .308 with 40 doubles, 1 triple, 34 home runs, 82 RBIs, 99 runs, 99 walks, a 1.041 OPS, a 179 OPS+ and a 6.4 WAR, according to FanGraphs. He leads baseball in slugging percentage (.612), OPS and OPS+. He leads the NL in Wins Probability Added (4.59). He is second in on-base percentage (.430) and WAR.

He is the only player in baseball slashing .300/.400/.600. He needs just one more walk and one more run to become the eighth outfielder in baseball history to have 40 doubles, 30 homers and 100 walks in a season, joining Babe Ruth, Earl Averill, Ted Williams, Stan Musial, Barry Bonds, Bobby Abreu and Lance Berkman.

“What Bryce is doing, I think the run that he’s been on has been amazing,” Howard said. “It’s Bryce being Bryce. I think what he’s doing, I think it’s what people look at him to do. If he goes out and does what he normally does, he’s going to go put up numbers.”

Harper is a top contender for MVP. Other candidates include Fernando Tatis Jr., Juan Soto, Freddie Freeman, Trea Turner, Austin Riley and Brandon Crawford.

“It’s probably going to come down to Bryce and Freddie,” Howard said. “Those would probably be my two front-runners right now. I think with what Bryce is doing and the numbers that he’s put up, yeah, you’ve definitely got to give him consideration for it. And I think with where the Phillies have kind of been with some of their struggles early on, he’s stayed pretty consistent.”

Fifteen years have passed since Howard won the MVP. Ten years have passed since the Phillies made the postseason. It is the longest postseason drought in the NL.

But Howard sees better things on the horizon.

“You’re starting to get back into it to where now you’re in your second-to-last series of the season and you’re in playoff contention,” Howard said. “It’s trending in the right direction because now you’re starting to compete. It’s just a matter of getting over the hump.”