Baseball has three Most Valuable Player Awards in the postseason, one for each League Championship Series and the other for the World Series. In each case the award is presented to the player “deemed to have the most impact on his team’s performance in the series.”
The World Series MVP has been presented annually since 1955. The NLCS MVP was first presented in 1977, with the ALCS starting in 1980.
Eight Phillies have received these honors.
League Championship Series
Manny Trillo, 1980
Trillo was selected following the Phillies' gut-wrenching playoff win against Houston. After going 3-for-12 in the first three games, he went 5-for-9 with four RBIs over the final two games, both Phillies wins. In the 8-7, 10-inning clinching game, he threw out a runner at home plate in the second inning and tripled in two runs in the eighth, giving the Phillies a 7-5 lead.
Gary Matthews, 1983
“The Sarge” almost single-handedly eliminated the Los Angeles Dodgers in a four-game series. His solo homer was the lone run in a Game 2 loss that tied the series, 1-1. In Game 3, he drove in four runs on a homer and two run-producing singles. He delivered a three-run homer in the second inning of the Game 4 clincher, a game the Phillies won, 7-2. His numbers: .429 batting average, three homers, eight RBIs and a 1.571 OPS.
Curt Schilling, 1993
Starting Game 1 against the heavily favored Atlanta Braves, he struck out the first five batters, setting an NLCS record. The Phillies won, 4-3, in 10 innings and had the same result in Game 5, his second start. While he was winless in two starts, he finished with a 1.69 ERA. In 16 innings, he allowed 11 hits, four runs (three earned), walked five and struck out 19.
Cole Hamels, 2008
If the Division Series had an MVP, he might have had a trifecta as he won the first game of the NLDS, NLCS and World Series. With eight shutout innings (two hits, nine strikeouts), he was the winner over Milwaukee to open the NLDS. He won NLCS Game 1 (3-2) and the clinching Game 5 (5-1) as the Phillies eliminated the Dodgers in Los Angeles.
Ryan Howard, 2009
His two-run double capped a five-run fifth inning in Game 1 and pinned an 8-6 loss on Clayton Kershaw. Howard drove in three runs with a triple in Game 3 and followed with a two-run homer in the first inning of Game 4. When Phillies closed out the NLCS with a romp in Game 5, he was hitless in two at-bats with two walks. Howard finished with a .333 average, five runs, five hits (single, double, triple, two home runs), eight RBIs and six walks.
Bryce Harper, 2022
Harper hit .400 (8-for-20) in five games, with four runs scored, five RBIs, five extra-base hits (three doubles, two homers) and a 1.250 OPS. He struck out once. In the final two games (Nos. 4-5), he went 4-for-8 (two doubles, one home run) with four RBIs. He delivered an epic two-run, eighth-inning homer that clinched the pennant, a drive into the left-field seats that will be remembered forever.
World Series
Mike Schmidt, 1980
The Hall of Famer won the award after the Phillies captured their first World Series championship over the Kansas City Royals. He batted .381 (8-for-21) with six runs scored, one double, two home runs, four walks and a team-leading seven RBIs, hitting safely in every game. He started a two-run, game-winning rally with a single to lead off the ninth in Game 5. In the 4-1, Game 6 clincher, he opened the Phillies' scoring with a two-run single in the third inning.
Cole Hamels, 2008
Hamels became the fifth player to win NLCS and WS honors in the same year. Seven days after eliminating the Dodgers in the NLCS, Hamels was a 3-2 winner over the Rays in WS Game 1 in St. Petersburg. He returned to start Game 5, working six innings before heavy rains suspended play with the score tied, 2-2. In five playoff starts, he was 4-0 with a 1.80 ERA, setting club records for the most wins, innings (35), strikeouts (30) and starts in one postseason.