Fastball

Philadelphia Phillies Game 1 Starter is Part of Some Amazing Playoff History

The Phillies are a real threat to win the World Series and starting pitching like this is a real reason why.

Brady Farkas

Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Zack Wheeler (45) pitches against the Washington Nationals during the first inning at Nationals Park on Sept 28.
Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Zack Wheeler (45) pitches against the Washington Nationals during the first inning at Nationals Park on Sept 28. / Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
In this story:

The Philadelphia Phillies are a real threat to win the World Series this season, and starting pitching is a major reason why.

The group of Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Christopher Sanchez and Ranger Suarez was excellent this season and gives the Phillies a chance in any best-of-five or best-of-seven series.

Philadelphia won the National League East and earned the No. 2 seed in the National League playoffs. They've been to the World Series and the NLCS in each of the last two years but have failed to capture their first World Series title since 2007.

Philly will open up the National League Division Series on Saturday afternoon at home against the New York Mets. First pitch is set for 4:08 p.m. ET as Wheeler pitches against Kodai Senga. Senga made just one start this season because of injury, so he's coming in rusty.

Wheeler, on the other hand, is coming off a great year that saw him go 16-7 with a 2.57 ERA. He's been dominant in the playoffs for his career, standing atop this incredibly historic list.

Per @OptaSTATSon social media:

Zack Wheeler, who is scheduled to start for the @Phillies tomorrow, has the lowest WHIP in MLB postseason history by any pitcher with at least 10 starts.

His playoff WHIP is 0.73, which is ahead of Christy Mathewson, Madison Bumgarner, Cliff Lee and Josh Beckett.

In the playoffs, Wheeler has gone 4-3 with a 2.42 ERA. He's pitched in 11 playoff games.

This regular season, Wheeler struck out 224 batters in 200.0 innings.

Follow Fastball on FanNation on social media

Continue to follow our FanNation on SI coverage on social media by liking us on Facebook and by following us on Twitter @FastballFN.

Published
Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

Home/History