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Nobody Needed a Big Performance More Than Aaron Nola
By Luke Arcaini
Published:
Aaron Nola has pitched 11 seasons in Philly with a 3.81 ERA in 282 starts, and you wouldn’t think that’s the case with the way people across the city talk about the veteran.
The Nola frustration this season is completely validated. He hasn’t been himself, and he hasn’t given the Phillies a ton of chances to cruise to easy wins. Even after returning from the longest IL stint of his long career, it was a shaky comeback, allowing six earned runs in his first start in Washington a few weeks back. He’s rarely looked like himself in 2025.
Nola isn’t the pitcher he was in 2018, when he posted a 2.37 ERA in 33 starts with a 9.2 WAR in 212.1 innings. He’s had a bad year. He’s 4-8 on the season with a 6.24 ERA in 14 starts.
The Phillies carried a 7-game lead in the NL East into Monday night with 19 games to go in the regular season. Coming off an abysmal series in Queens vs. the Mets two weeks ago, the Phillies needed a game one win for a number of reasons.
But no reason was bigger than Aaron Nola’s confidence.
Every pitch was working for Nola in the 1-0 shutout at Citizens Bank Park, their first blanking of the Mets at home since 2009. Nola threw 94 pitches in a 6-inning shutout, allowing just three hits while striking out seven batters. His four-seamer average was just about the same, but everything else was up. He generated nine whiffs, four coming from the knuckle-curve. He threw one cutter throughout the entire night, a strike-three whiff on Juan Soto in the 6th:
He looked in control, something that hasn’t been the case all season.
Nola moved into 6th on the all-time Phillies list in quality starts with 153, passing Curt Schilling. Nola has faced the Mets 30+ times in his career, so the Mets are familiar with everything he does. It speaks volumes that he was able to toss his best start of the season against the team that sees him the most.
“I just needed to win the count, stay ahead, attack the zone,” Nola said to reporters following the game.
The veteran threw 51 pitches in the strike zone and kept the Mets off-balance all night. Nola walked off the mound to a standing ovation from a postseason-like crowd. It’s one of the few times he’s received one of those this season, and it came in one of his most important outings of the year.
The Phillies will have a decision to make on their postseason rotation. If they get the first-round bye, and they currently hold a 4-game lead on the Dodgers, they won’t need a fourth starter until Game 4 of the NLCS. Cristopher Sanchez, Jesus Luzardo, and Ranger Suarez have been the best three pitchers in the starting rotation since Zack Wheeler went down for the year.
If Monday night Nola sticks, the team will have options… a lot of good ones.
Luke Arcaini writes about the Phillies for Crossing Broad, covers the Phillies for FOX Sports The Gambler, and co-hosts "Phillies Digest" on YouTube. The wave is the worst thing in all of sports. Contact: lukearcaini8@gmail.com