Phillies

Aaron Nola Pitched Well at the World Baseball Classic

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Mar 17th, 2026 · 9:58 AM EDT

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Team Italy, which is a bunch of American guys, lost to Venezuela in Monday night’s WBC semifinal, setting up a USA vs. Venezuela final. Nolan McLean will start for us, which means we have to trust a New York Met in a big game.

What the hell!

But Aaron Nola pitched very well in this WBC:

The last few starts from Aaron Nola have been incredibly encouraging.

The uptick in velocity looks legit, his body's moving a bit more efficiently and truly commanding every pitch. His arm slot has changed a bit: dropped it a bit/releasing further from his body/lower rel.… pic.twitter.com/3iEAnp0xak

— Joseph Cammisa (@jmcammisa) March 17, 2026

Nola threw nine innings, allowing one run for a flat 1.00 ERA. He struck out eight batters, walked two, and allowed two hits, the only conceded run coming from a Eugenio Suárez solo shot, which, of course, took place in the fourth inning. Cue the “Rav 4th inning” jokes. But he got two ground outs after the homer to exit the inning without further damage.

Michael Lorenzen, who had a cup of coffee with the Phils, gave up the other three runs, so go figure.

You have to like what you see from Noles in a small sample size. He was not himself last season, battling injury and throwing fewer than 100 innings for the first time since the pandemic. He finished with a career-high 6.01 ERA with elevated BB/9 and HR/9 numbers. The Phils ended up getting two solid innings out of him against the Dodgers in the NLDS, but with Zack Wheeler recovering from surgery and Ranger Suarez long gone, getting 2018 Nola back to start the season would go a long way towards assuaging rotation concerns. You feel good about Cris Sanchez and Jesus Luzardo to start, but you feel a whole lot better about Sanchez, Luzardo, and a recovered Nola, who saved Team USA bacon with his performance against Mexico. Then you throw Wheeler back into the mix and see what Andrew Painter has and oh baby!