PHILADELPHIA – In the end, it had to be Aaron Nola.
When playoff baseball returned to Philadelphia after an 11-year absence in 2022, Nola was on the mound.
When the Phillies returned to the World Series in 2022 for the first time in 13 years, it was Nola who toed the rubber.
And so, the pitcher whose gem in Houston with three games left in the 2022 season ended that infernal playoff drought, the one who last week pitched the Phillies to the playoffs for the third straight season, the Phillies weren’t faltering in their chase of a first National League East title since 2011. They were merely waiting for Aaron Nola to do the honors and pull the division Excalibur out of the stone.
Nola threw six sterling innings, helping the Phillies clinch a first NL East title in 13 years with a 6-2 win over the Chicago Cubs Monday night.
Monday, Nola was – maybe not dominant, maybe not flawless, and ultimately stumbled off the mound instead of marching from it with men on in the seventh. But he was exactly what the Phillies needed.
He went six innings, plus four batters in the top of the seventh. He scattered four hits over the six shutout frames before three hits in the seventh. He walked two and struck out six.
He allowed a run on back-to-back doubles to Isaac Paredes and Noc Hoerner to start the seventh, then bequeathed a bases-loaded jam to Matt Strahm, who stranded two of three inherited runners.
All of it adds to a number borne out time and again when Nola is on the mound and the games matter: In the last three seasons, in seven starts with a chance to clinch something — a playoff berth, division title or playoff series — Nola has gone 44.1 innings with a 1.62 ERA, striking out 46 and walking seven.
First, though, Nola approaches the chance to add to the club’s history with gratitude.
“I’m definitely grateful,” he said. “Our guys hit the crap out of the ball on the road trip. (Zack) Wheeler threw the heck out of it yesterday, but unfortunately we didn’t get it done for him. But tonight, the guys came out and hit right away. We had some chances on the road to get it done, but it’s really cool to be able to do it in front of our fanbase.”
It was shades of 2022, in the creeping sense of, “if not now, when.” Then it was Houston, a team fast-tracked for the Fall Classic, in the final series of the season, with the weight of a decade of sub-.500 baseball only recently eased.
Now, it was the Phillies listing their starter as TBD for Tuesday against the Cubs, eliminated but still competent, with the rolodex of fifth-starter failures having grown by the turn. Before a fanbase for whom 1964 remains a figure only whispered, the ruminating could cycle. If not Monday, and then if not Tuesday, and then …
Nola banished all that, making sure no further worry would be required.
“He’s a big-game pitcher,” manager Rob Thomson said. “Wheeler gave it to us last night, and we just didn’t score any runs. Nola is the same way. … Nola is a big-game guy. He steps up when the lights are brightest.”
When this era of Phillies baseball reaches its denouement, Nola will be center stage. Ranger Suarez has pride of place in the Brad Lidge role for the final out of the 2022 NLCS. The reminder that Wheeler was always the choice for Game 1 of postseason series will be tagged as the “yeah but” of Nola’s legacy.
But in big games, Nola’s presence has long been indelible.
There are counterweights. Nola finished off the Wild Card series last year, then stole momentum from the Braves in the NLDS. His six shutout innings in Game 2 of the NLCS helped the Phillies put one foot into the World Series. It was the Phillies’ fading bats, much less than his downer of a Game 6 outing, the was to blame for that series imploding.
Yet out of the wreckage of last year, the Phillies have added another first.
“I think that says a lot about our club,” Nola said. “We stayed hungry after the losses in the World Series and the CS last year. We hope we can keep that going.”
Days after the ending, looked out from his Center City apartment and contemplated the reality that he may have played his last game as a Phillie. Before Thanksgiving, he made sure that wasn’t the case, signing a seven-year, 172-million contract that will keep him here through the decade.
Monday’s win was No. 103 as a Phillie, sixth in franchise history. He passed Cole Hamels for the most wins at Citizens Bank Park. By the time he’s done, he stands a chance to have the only names in franchise history exceeding him be named Roberts, Carlton and Alexander, not to mention being the last Phillie ever to wear No. 27.
When it’s all written, nights like Monday will be atop the list.
Contact Matthew De George at [email protected].
