On June 2nd of 2019, the Phillies acquired 32 year-old veteran outfielder, Jay Bruce.
On June 4th of 2019, in a completely unrelated and unforeseen incident, the Phillies announced the permanent shutdown of former MVP, Andrew McCutchen — a loss that would alter the trajectory of the club’s season drastically.
Luckily, they had just acquired some semblance of a backup plan.
Since joining the Phillies, Jay Bruce has, arguably, emerged as the offensive MVP of the team — and has stolen the heart of many Philadelphians along the way, myself included.