MLB Network, launched on Jan. 1, 2009, is celebrating its 15th anniversary in 2024. Through Jan. 19, MLB Network will count down the top 15 moments it has covered in its history, via weeknight segments on MLB Tonight (6 p.m. ET), as well as across its social platforms. And don’t forget to catch MLB Network’s 15th Anniversary retrospective show – “MLB Network Legendary Moments” presented by Budweiser, with Greg Amsinger, Sean Casey and Harold Reynolds -- scheduled for 7 p.m. ET on Monday, Jan. 22.

The No. 12 moment on the countdown: Bryce Harper's clutch home run to help the Phillies beat the Padres in the 2022 NLCS.

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When the calendar flips to October, MLB's 162-game regular-season slate gives way to a postseason sprint in which short series have the potential to dash dreams. But that dynamic also creates plenty of opportunities for elite players to rise to the occasion and record a signature moment.

With MLB Network celebrating its 15th anniversary, we’ve decided to take a look at 15 of the biggest stars who have stepped up in October over the past 15 years.

Bryce Harper
Harper is already on the short list of the greatest hitters in postseason history. At just 31 years old, his 16 playoff home runs are tied for the 16th most, and he's four away from cracking the top five. Harper enjoyed perhaps his best postseason moment during the National League Championship Series in 2022 against the Padres, hitting a go-ahead home run in the eighth inning of Game 5 to secure a 4-3 win and a World Series berth for the Phillies.

Yordan Alvarez
It’s hard to find many players more clutch in the postseason than Alvarez, who has excelled in multiple playoff runs for the Astros. In 2021, Alvarez was named the American League Championship Series MVP, slashing .522/.538/.870 with five extra-base hits en route to a World Series appearance. During Houston's 2022 World Series run, Alvarez became the first player in MLB postseason history with multiple career go-ahead homers in the sixth inning or later when his team was trailing -- and he did it in back-to-back games.

Madison Bumgarner
Bumgarner starred in three World Series title runs for the Giants, but he was particularly dominant in 2014. During that season’s Fall Classic against the Royals, Bumgarner logged a 0.43 ERA over 21 innings, topping it off with a five-inning save in Game 7 to secure a 3-2 win for San Francisco in one of the most thrilling games in recent World Series history.

Corey Seager
Seager accomplished something this past fall that only three inner-circle Hall of Famers have done -- he has now won multiple World Series MVP Awards, joining Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson and Reggie Jackson. Seager led the Rangers to their first World Series title last year, finishing the postseason with a .318 average, 12 RBIs and six homers, including three against the D-backs in the Fall Classic.

Stephen Strasburg
The Nationals’ 2019 World Series run was unfortunately the last time we saw Strasburg at his best, but boy, was he amazing. Strasburg served as Washington’s workhorse that fall, going 5-0 with a 1.98 ERA in 36 1/3 innings and winning the World Series MVP Award. Strasburg’s 1.46 ERA is the fifth lowest in AL/NL postseason history (minimum 50 innings pitched).

Jose Altuve
Among current players, Altuve is nearly unparalleled when it comes to the vastness of his playoff resume; he leads all active players in postseason home runs (27), hits (117) and games played (103), among several other categories. Altuve and the Astros have made it to seven straight American League Championship Series, winning World Series titles in 2017 and '22.

Jon Lester
Lester has been a big part of some of the most iconic World Series-winning teams over the past two decades, including the 2016 Cubs and the '07 and '13 Red Sox. He recorded a win in each of those Fall Classics, including the closeout effort during Game 4 against the Rockies in 2007. Throughout his postseason career, Lester had a 2.51 ERA and a 1.02 WHIP in 154 innings.

Andrew Miller
Miller became a household name in 2016 when he appeared in 10 games with Cleveland and struck out 41 percent of the batters he faced to help his club win the American League pennant. Miller allowed just four runs in 38 2/3 career postseason innings (0.93 ERA), and he set an MLB record for strikeouts in a postseason by a reliever with 30.

Aaron Judge
In 2017, Judge stole the spotlight in his postseason debut when he crushed a two-run home run in the Yankees’ AL Wild Card Game win over the Twins. He’s done nothing but mash since then, totaling 13 postseason homers (which is tied for fifth most in Yanks history), and has gone deep in eight of the 12 postseason series in which he’s played.

David Ortiz
While many of Big Papi's heroics came before our 2009 starting point, he deserves mention here for two reasons. First, he is an all-time October great who is all over the career postseason leaderboards, including first in win probability added for a position player. Second, there was his incredible run in 2013, when he secured his third World Series ring with monumental performances for the Red Sox in both the ALDS against the Rays and World Series against the Cardinals, with the latter securing him MVP honors. In 16 games that postseason, Ortiz hit .353/.500/.706 with five homers, 13 RBIs and more than twice as many walks (16) as strikeouts (seven).

Kenley Jansen
A staple of the 2010s Dodgers teams, Jansen has recorded 20 postseason saves, which trails only Mariano Rivera for the most all time. Jansen put together a run for the ages from 2017-19, when he posted a 1.55 ERA with eight saves across 29 innings over six postseason series.

Zack Wheeler
After not making the postseason in his first seven MLB seasons, Wheeler made up for lost time in 2022 with a 2.78 ERA in six games during the Phillies’ march to the World Series. He was even better in '23 with a 1.95 ERA in five games (four starts), including his first career relief appearance in Game 7 of the NLCS.

Gerrit Cole
Cole has appeared in the postseason with three teams and has been dominant with all three. After allowing one run in six innings in his postseason debut with the Pirates in 2013, Cole pitched his way into Astros history in '19, when he posted a 1.72 ERA across 36 2/3 innings. In '20, Cole had a 2.95 ERA in his first playoff appearance with the Yankees while averaging 14.7 strikeouts per nine innings -- which set a new MLB postseason record.

Justin Verlander
It’s hard to talk about modern postseason pitching without mentioning Verlander. He’s thrown 226 innings (the second most all time), has 244 strikeouts (most all time) and has recorded 17 wins (second most all time) in the playoffs. His best postseason came in 2013, when he allowed just one run in 23 innings.

Trea Turner
In 2019, Turner won his first career World Series while with the Washington Nationals. He’s done nothing but produce in the three postseasons he’s played in since, and seems to be getting better as he gets older. Turner has hit .343 in 17 playoff games with the Dodgers and Phillies over the past two seasons and has recorded an OPS of 1.100 or higher in three of his past four postseason series.