Sep 28, 2024; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Zack Wheeler (45) pitches against the Washington Nationals during the first inning at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
In the penultimate game of the 2024 regular season for the Phillies, there was some good news and some bad news, and both centered around strikeouts - of sorts.
First the bad news, since the Phillies lost the game to the Washington Nationals 6-3.
The loss ensured the Los Angeles Dodgers would be the No. 1 seed in the N.L. Playoffs. The Phillies are now locked in at No. 2, meaning they will host the winner of the Milwaukee Brewers and whichever of the three teams battling for the last two wild card spots finishes as the No. 6 seed - the Atlanta Braves, New York Mets or Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Phillies offense was moribund. They were 0-for-1 with runners in scoring position because they didn't get anyone into scoring position until the ninth inning.
For seven innings they were awful. In the eighth, Edmundo Sosa was hit by a pitch and Trea Turner hit a two-run homer to briefly tie the game.
Trea Turner ties it up in the 8th inning with a 2-run shot 😤 pic.twitter.com/bkBGiKejyo
But Jeff Hoffman was not sharp in the bottom of the inning and gave up four runs. A Nick Castellanos triple and a ground out by Alec Bohm plated the last run.
That was the extent of the Phillies offense. The rest of the game saw them strike out 12 times.
Manager Rob Thomson chalked that up to a combination of good pitching by Washington starter Mackenzie Gore as well as a series of shadows that crept across the infield due to the late afternoon start time. Yes, that was an issue early, but for the entirety of the game, it's hardly an acceptable excuse.
And in the playoffs, there's a chance they play games at that twilight time - so they need to figure out how to deal with it.
But the strikeout total is the concern. In 25 games this month, the Phillies have gone 14-11, which is good. However, they have struck out 227 times. That's an average of 9.1 strikeouts per game. It's their worst month swinging and missing this season:
MacKenzie Gore strikes out the side 😤
He now has 9 Ks through 6 innings. pic.twitter.com/dQ29EacS0M
The Phillies need to take their week off before the playoffs commence for them next Saturday and clean that up.
Now the good news.
Zack Wheeler was outstanding - again. He threw 6 1/3 innings he allowed two runs on three hits and two walks while striking out 11.
Wheeler threw his major league leading 25th quality start. He set a Phillies franchise record with 11 consecutive starts of at least six innings allowing two or fewer runs.
He finished the season with exactly 200 innings pitched, a 2.57 ERA, a 0.96 WHIP and 224 strikeouts.
Those numbers combined are pretty special.
Only 45 pitchers all-time (66 times overall) have ever had a season with 200 innings, an ERA of 2.60 or lower, a WHIP below 1.00 and at least 220 strikeouts.
Wheeler was the first to do it in major league baseball since Jacob deGrom, Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole all did it in 2019.
And he became just the third Phillies pitcher to ever do it:
Zack Wheeler’s regular season is over. He finished with the lowest ERA and WHIP of his career. His final stats:
32 GS | 200.0 IP | 139 H | 57 ER | 52 BB | 224 K | 2.57 ERA | 0.96 WHIP
pic.twitter.com/lvjvxIdkZA
That's it. No Steve Carlton. No Robin Roberts. No Jim Bunning. No Curt Schilling.
Just Ol' Pete, Noles, and Wheels. Sounds like a band.
Wheeler's numbers are clearly Cy Young-worthy. So are Atlanta's Chris Sale's. Sale is likely the frontrunner, but strong arguments can be - and should be made - for Wheeler.
And while the Phillies have a lot of offensive cleaning up to do in the next week, the idea that having Wheeler, at the top of his game, throwing twice in five games in the NLDS and possibly four more times if the Phillies advance to the NLCS and possibly the World Series, is why despite the offensive struggles and losing 8-of-12 here at the end of the season, they should still feel very good about their chances in the playoffs.
