PHILADEPHIA — The “MVP” chants started when Kyle Schwarber stepped to the plate.

The roar continued as he sat on the first pitch of his second at-bat, in the sixth, a fastball outside, and escalated when his bat connected with the next pitch, a 95.9 mph fastball. It was a crack so sharp, so clear, all of Citizens Bank Park knew.

Philadelphia Phillies fans leaped from their seats. Edmundo Sosa, Weston Wilson and Trea Turner watched the ball sail 390 feet, then ran the bases. Pitcher Jesús Luzardo saw the ball fly and knew, with how long the sixth had gone and was going, he would not return to the game. 

The ball was gone. Schwarber’s second grand slam of the season rocked into the right-center stands. 

“Those are the moments you take in as a player,” Schwarber said. “Those are special things that happen. Those are things that just go in the back of the memory and you hold onto for a while.” 

Kyle Schwarber became the fastest player in Phillies history to reach the 40-homer plateau, doing it in the team’s 112th game. (Heather Barry / Getty Images)

The grand slam, Schwarber’s 40th homer of the season, sealed a 13-3 win over the Baltimore Orioles on Monday. It was his second home run of the game, and 10th since his dominance in the All-Star Game swing-off on July 15. Now, Schwarber leads the National League in home runs, sitting second in the majors (Cal Raleigh of the Seattle Mariners has 42). 

With more home runs comes more difficulty for everyone trying to describe what Schwarber is doing. 

Manager Rob Thomson listed what Schwarber has accomplished this season: the big hits, the home runs, the RBIs. Harrison Bader, a Phillies player for all of five days, said he’s watched Schwarber’s routine, poise and work ethic and said it “really does make sense why he’s so successful.”

“It was incredible,” Thomson said.

“You hear the MVP chants, and I think they’re warranted,” Luzardo said. 

“The guy is unbelievable,” Bader said. 

The designated hitter had somewhat of a down June. And down, for Schwarber, meant a batting average of .214 with six home runs and a .756 OPS as he dealt with tougher pitching. From the All-Star break through Sunday, he posted a 1.164 OPS with a .776 slugging percentage. Throwing him a fastball in the zone, as the Orioles did on both home runs, was a grave error. 

The “MVP” chants, which continued when Schwarber singled in the eighth, are fun. Schwarber said they feed into his efforts at the plate. They make his at-bats even more of an event. But could there be something real to his MVP chances?

It would require a lot. Hitting 60 home runs would break the franchise record set by Ryan Howard (58 in 2006) and make him just the second Phillies player in history to reach 50 homers in a season. Shohei Ohtani, the three-time MVP, sits third in MLB with 38 home runs. A first-place MVP finish for Schwarber seems unlikely. A top-three or top-five finish, however, seems within the realm of possibility.

Schwarber, for all his strong seasons, has placed no better than 15th in MVP voting. Cracking the top-five, especially in a contract year, matters — even if Schwarber, for now, is caught up in the day-to-day. 

“I’m not trying to go out there and think about records or anything like that,” Schwarber said. “I’m just trying to go out on a daily basis and try to help these guys. If (breaking Howard’s record) happens, it’s great. If it doesn’t, it’s great.” 

Helping the other guys has been key since the All-Star break ended July 18. Schwarber has 10 homers since then. Bryce Harper has seven. Their power hitting, slowly, has caught on. 

The Phillies, from Opening Day through the end of June, ranked 16th with 89 home runs. Since the All-Star Break, the club leads the league in homers (33). And Monday marked the Phillies’ first game with six home runs since Sept. 6, 2021.

Harper homered in the first inning, and Schwarber in the third. Then, with two outs in the sixth, the rest of the lineup came together. Bader had his first hit in a Phillies uniform, a three-run homer, to provide a 6-3 lead. Five batters — and three hits — later, Schwarber hit the grand slam. 

The power, long a question mark for this team, seems to have arrived. There is also something to be said about the Phillies — and not just Schwarber and Harper — delivering timely hits late in close games as they did Friday and Monday. The combination, should the Phillies continue to embrace it, could be crucial. 

“(Home runs) excite the crowd,” Schwarber said. “It excites the dugout. You can kind of feel that energy, and it can kind of carry over to the next at-bat for someone. You get the fans (energetic), they’re still going, and the next thing you know, it’s more runs, more runs, more runs. ”

(Top photo of Kyle Schwarber: Heather Barry / Getty Images)