on his thumb on July 6 with three pins being inserted to stabilize the area. In August, Harper was designated to the Lehigh Valley IronPigs in Allentown, the Phillies' Triple-A affiliate, as a final step in his rehabilitation stint from his thumb fracture in June. IronPigs' fans in Allentown greeted Harper's appearance enthusiastically, and Coca-Cola Park quickly sold out to its 10,100 capacity for Harper's appearance against the Gwinnett Stripers. In his August 23 appearance with the IronPigs, Harper homered twice. The Phillies surged in the second half to reach the playoffs, their first appearance since 2011. In the 2022 regular season, Harper batted .286/.364/.514 in 370 at bats, with 63 runs, 18 home runs, 65 RBIs, 7 sacrifice flies (6th in the NL), and 9 intentional walks (9th), as he had the 9th-highest salary in baseball ($27.5 million). He played 90 games at DH, and eight games in right field. In Harper's first postseason series since 2017, he hit a home run in Game 2 of the NL Wild Card Series vs St. Louis in an eventual 2–0 victory. With their advancement to the NLDS, Harper finally won a postseason series. He batted 8 for 16 in the NLDS against the defending champion Atlanta Braves; helping the Phillies win the series 3–1 and advance to the NLCS for the first time since 2010. On October 23, 2022 during game 5 of the National League Championship Series, Harper hit a go-ahead 2-run home run in the bottom of the 8th inning off of Padres right-handed reliever Robert Suárez. It would prove to be the game-winning hit, sending the Phillies to the 2022 World Series against the Houston Astros. At the end of the game, Harper was voted 2022 NLCS MVP. During his first World Series, Harper went 4 for 20 at bats, scoring a run each in Games 1 and 3. Most notably, in Game 3, Harper hit the first of five homers from the Phillies against Lance McCullers, Jr., with the game tying the record for most home runs from a single team in one World Series game. The Phillies would lose against the Astros four games to two. On November 23, 2022, it was announced that Harper underwent Tommy John surgery and would miss a portion of the 2023 season, with the expectation he could return as the Phillies' everyday designated hitter at around the All-Star break. International