While the four-game holiday weekend series between the Phillies and Braves felt like prime October baseball, Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler dazzled in their respective starts.

It was a weekend filled with “revenge” homers, Whit Merrifield’s return to Citizens Bank Park, and a pretty hilarious interaction between Nick Castellanos and an ESPN anchor following the walkoff win. The revived rivalry that has formed again over the last two and a half years between these two teams has been downright incredible. Every game is must-watch. Somebody is staring somebody down. Carlos Estevez, Matt Strahm, and Jeff Hoffman are screaming their heads off after they get out of their innings. 

But during a weekend where winning 3 of 4 was crucial, what continued to fly under the radar was the two guys at the top of the starting rotation. After Thursday’s start from Cristopher Sanchez required the use of Orion Kerkering, Strahm, and Hoffman, followed by a Ranger Suarez start that was nothing to write home about, this team needed two dominant starts. 

They got just that and more:

Zack Wheeler is being snubbed in the NL Cy Young race, at least from a betting perspective. He’s the current runner-up, only to Braves starter Chris Sale, who the Phillies luckily avoided this weekend. Sale sits at a whopping -550 on FanDuel, while Wheeler is 3/1 with about five starts left this season. 


Wheeler has started two more games than Sale. He’s logged 14 more innings. His ERA is just .05 points higher. Both pitchers will end the 2024 season with 200+ strikeouts. I’m not going to sit here and say Chris Sale doesn’t deserve it, because the 35-year-old southpaw has been downright unhittable in most of his starts this season. But I hope all Cy Young voters had Phillies/Braves on their TV on Saturday night. 

Zack Wheeler threw 96 pitches in seven innings. His fastball topped out at 97 mph, which is an incredibly encouraging sign heading into September. He generated 13 swinging strikes and only one hard-hit line drive all night. 

Since the start of the 2020 season, Zack Wheeler is 1st in Major League Baseball in fWAR (23.7), 1st in FIP (2.98), 1 of 2 pitchers with an ERA under 3.00 (Wheeler and Corbin Burnes), and is top five in HR/9, BB/9, and BABIP. There isn’t a pitcher in baseball that you should want to get the ball in a Game 7 right now over Zack Wheeler. He’s proven his playoff dominance. He’s shown that when the lights get brighter, his stuff gets nastier. He’s shown that he’s a workhorse year in and year out. 

There’s been one pitcher in all of Major League Baseball who has thrown more innings since the start of the 2020 season. That pitcher is Aaron Nola, his teammate and fellow ace. 

I don’t know how many athletes I can name in the city of Philadelphia since 2010 that are more underappreciated than Aaron Nola. 

These are his MLB ranks since 2018:

  • Innings Pitched: 1st (1,237)
  • K/9: 3rd (9.97)
  • ERA: 4th (3.60)
  • FIP: 4th (3.45)
  • fWAR: 3rd (28.4)

The home runs can be frustrating. The occasional spiral inning is infuriating at times. But nobody in baseball has been more durable and available than Nola since he made his debut.

Aaron Nola was fantastic on Sunday night in a crucial series-clincher. Nola threw 100 pitches: 39 fastballs, 34 knuckle-curves, and the other 27% divided between the cutter, changeup, and sinker. He generated 21 swinging strikes. The offspeed stuff looked the best it’s looked all season, and he fanned nine batters across those six innings. 

It’s rare to find a baseball team over the last few years with two aces that are durable, available, and give you a chance to win every single start. The Phillies front office gets praised for a multitude of free-agent signings. Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber are leading that race. The J.T. Realmuto trade, the Hoffman finding, and the Strahm contract all stick out on the A+ transactions list. 

Home runs are fun, but pitching wins championships. If you can’t pitch in October, you can’t win in October. And no team in baseball has a 1-2 punch with the stuff that the Phillies have. I’ve been confident in the Phillies’ ability to win a championship the last three years, even during their past struggles. Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola are the first reason why.