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Bryce Harper celebrated NL East title by pouring apple cider on a kid and beer on his teammates

Kevin Kaduk

Bryce Harper is only 19 years old and once famously deflected an inquiry about drinking beer in Canada as "a clown question, bro." So how did the underaged baseball phenom navigate the alcohol-soaked clubhouse after the Washington Nationals clinched their first National League East title on Monday night?

Why, by pouring apple cider over the head of the young son of his team's first baseman — and by having it poured on his own head, of course.

[Jeff Passan: Miguel Cabrera sits out Tigers' raucous celebration]

From Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post:

Yup, apple cider. As the Nationals guzzled Korbel and Miller Lite, Harper shared a corner of the raucous clubhouse Monday night with first baseman Adam LaRoche's 9-year-old son, Drake. They eschewed bubbly for the sweet — and soft — stuff.

"I was drinking that," Harper said. "Me and Drake were pouring that on top of each other."

Harper, who is Mormon, has said that he'll never drink alcohol saying "that stuff has never appealed to me." But while the Drake LaRoche story is a cute lead, Harper was also spotted throwing some beer on his teammates. David Murphy of Philly.com mentions it here while at least one tweeter screencapped Harper with a Miller Lite in his hands.

Oh, and the team's official Instagram page published a photo of Harper with beer in hand (right) while other teammates doused GM Mike Rizzo. It's a temptation that Harper hopes will pop up often as he told Kilgore that he'd like to win 20 division titles over the course of his career.

Now, some might say that was the bubbly talking while others (myself included) will credit the optimism of youth.

Either way, Harper deserved the good time he had for himself on Monday night. After starting the second half with a prolonged slump, he has posted a monster September (.330/.402/.651 with seven homers and 14 RBIs) and is a big reason why the Nats might be staging a few more of these wet free-for-alls over the next month.

Are you ready for the postseason?
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