PHILADELPHIA – The first batter of the 2023 National League Championship Series shattered his bat. That was Zack Wheeler’s fastball at work – 97 mph, just off the hands of Corbin Carroll – but the slugger died a hero, players say. Carroll got a bloop single on Wheeler’s hardest pitch of the night.
So this was a gift for the Arizona Diamondbacks, a chance to dominate the action and deafen a raucous crowd. Wheeler and the Philadelphia Phillies could see how this could play out.
“We know what type of team they have and what their game plan would be — they’re athletic, they’re fast, they like to shake things up,” Wheeler said late Monday night in the Citizens Bankpark home clubhouse. “We’ve talked about it many times and you know you have to be quick. But it never depends on what you want: the fastest player in the league gets on base first in the game.”
The Diamondbacks had the most stolen bases of any playoff team, led by Carroll with 54. But he remained tied to first base, and when Arizona put another runner on in the sixth inning, the Phillies were ahead by five runs.
Wheeler struck out 15 straight after Carroll’s single, his fastball as crisp as a fall night over six innings of a 5-3 win that looked familiar. His pitching line was the same as his last NLCS start in Game 5 last October – six innings, three hits, two runs, no walks, eight strikeouts. The Phillies won the pennant that day against San Diego.
They are just three wins away from returning to the World Series, following the same pattern as last year: a two-game win in the first round, a four-game win over the Atlanta Braves in the next round and an NLCS opener with home runs from Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper and dominance from Wheeler.
“It’s a loud crowd,” said Schwarber, the designated hitter. “I get itchy sitting in the cage waiting for the first inning to be over. He’s out there and he’s in control of the game. He has the situation under control.”
For Wheeler and the Phillies, Game 1 was about control: Not just the tempo and tenor of the game, but literal control, as in no walks. Wheeler has issued just one walk in 19 innings this postseason, accounting for 26 strikeouts and a 2.37 ERA.
Zack Wheeler shut out Arizona in the first five innings and the Phillies built a 5-0 lead. (Bill Streicher/USA Today)
Aaron Nola will start Game 2 on Tuesday — “Ace 1 and Ace 2,” Harper said, referring to Wheeler and Nola — and to understand how well the Phillies duo has performed in the last two postseasons, consider these numbers:
A: 13 starts, 89 1/3 innings, 33 earned runs, 3.32 ERA, 8-5 team record.
B: 16 starts, 93 innings, 32 earned runs, 3.10 ERA, 10-6 team record.
A is Steve Carlton, the greatest pitcher in team history, with his postseason stats for the Phillies. B is Wheeler and Nola with their combined postseason stats for the Phillies.
Carlton certainly had the win that mattered most: Game 6 of the 1980 World Series, which gave the franchise its first title. Wheeler lost Game 6 in Houston last November by shutting out the Astros until the sixth but leaving the go-ahead run on base. Yordan Alvarez hit reliever José Alvarado with a home run and soon the Astros were champions.
Wheeler could soon get another chance, and there’s no one the Phillies trust more.
“It’s command, it’s stuff, it’s power, it’s competitive,” manager Rob Thomson said. “It’s everything. It’s complete.”
Thomson was the relief coach when former Phillies general manager Matt Klentak signed Wheeler to a five-year, $118 million deal in December 2019. It was a risky outlay for a pitcher who would soon turn 30, with normal numbers for the Mets (his ERA+ was 100, right around average) and a career record that exceeded the limits of 2015 and 2016, when he was recovering from Tommy John surgery, missed.
Still, teams coveted Wheeler – the Chicago White Sox made an even higher offer for him – and with a lean but sturdy frame (6-foot-1, 195 pounds) and a swinging arm movement, he was able to maintain his speed well into the starting period . The bet was that a healthy Wheeler would be more durable in his 30s than he was in his 20s – think AJ Burnett – and could channel his inner ace.
“I knew I had what it took and mentally I was ready to be there,” Wheeler said. “It’s always been me, it’s just been about putting it all together. I’m finally figuring out all the little things – mechanics, pitch usage, good pitching coaches, JT (Realmuto) behind the plate. Just the combination of these combos helped me get to this point. Maybe I had the tools, I just needed some help getting there.”
Zack Wheeler and JT Realmuto go to the dugout before Game 1. (Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)
Realmuto, the Phillies’ catcher, said he could tell from Wheeler’s bullpen demeanor that he was “hyperfocused” and thriving on the adrenaline of October. The two form an effective battery for controlling the game in progress; Opponents attempted to steal just seven bases against Wheeler this season and were successful just three times.
“I’ve seen guys on my teams get attacked in the past and I said, ‘Man, I don’t want to do that.’ It’s just free baseball. “It’s not good for the team,” Wheeler said. “I don’t know – I’m just proud of it.”
Wheeler said his goal as a boy at Georgia was to play in the playoffs with increased stakes and electric stands. He missed this opportunity with the Mets, who went to the 2015 World Series without him. He enjoyed it here last fall, and now he’s doing it again.
“The first pitch you can barely hear yourself think, so you always take a step back,” Wheeler said. “That’s what I’ve done throughout my career: pay attention and enjoy those moments. They won’t last forever.”
— Andy McCullough of The Athletic contributed to this report.
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(Top photo: Brynn Anderson / Associated Press)