Phillies' Bryce Harper Trolled by Padres Over Viral TikTok

On Monday, Philadelphia Phillies All-Star first baseman Bryce Harper shocked the world in the most unexpected way imaginable.

Harper posted a “get ready with me” TikTok, in which he spoke about his excitement to be in San Diego while brushing his teeth, scraping his tongue, and primping his world-famous beard and hair. None of that is shocking on its face, other than his decision to film himself scraping his tongue, but whatever.

The TikTok took off because of how Harper brushed his teeth. Instead of squirting his toothpaste onto his toothbrush like the rest of us, Harper squirted a glob of toothpaste directly into his mouth - sparking debate between differing toothpaste users and providing fodder to sports talk hosts.

While Harper was thrilled to be in San Diego, the San Diego Padres did not give him the warmest welcome.

During the fifth inning of Tuesday’s game between the Padres and Phillies, the Petco Park video board trolled Harper by writing the following beneath his name and player photo: “Squirts toothpaste into his mouth instead of onto a toothbrush when brushing his teeth.”

The Phillies beat the Padres 4-3 on Tuesday, including Harper’s 13th home run of the season. Overall, Harper is hitting .272/.367/.533 through 195 at-bats in 55 games.

When I initially covered this scandal (read with heavy sarcasm) on Monday, I posited that this might be one of Harper’s superstitions. In the off chance I’m correct, it’s working. The Phillies took two of the first three against the Padres to improve to 28-27, which seemed inconceivable when they were 9-19 and firing manager Rob Thomson a month ago.

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This story was originally published May 27, 2026 at 6:02 PM.