Philadelphia Phillies to Start Nola in World Series Game 1

Philadelphia Phillies manager Rob Thomson has chosen Aaron Nola to start Game 1 of the World Series against the Houston Astros.

Aaron Nola has made five consecutive Opening Day starts. It's only fitting that he now gets a chance to start Game 1 of the World Series for the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday.

With Nola taking Game 1, Zack Wheeler will get the ball for Game 2. There was some though that Wheeler might start Friday, as he started Game 1 of the NLWCS and NLCS when the Phillies were able to set their rotation.

But Nola has a history with the Houston Astros, and better peripherals than Wheeler. For one, Nola leads all pitchers — not including Shohei Ohtani — in fWAR, which is a FIP-based variant of wins above replacement.

Nola was second in the National League in FIP with 2.58, trailing only Carlos Rodón at 2.25. Granted, Nola threw 27.0 more inning than his San Francisco Giants counterpart.

Wheeler though, while dominant, had a FIP of only 2.89, and his 4.79 K/BB pales in comparison to Nola's league-leading 8.10. No NL pitcher came anywhere near that total. Yu Darvish placed second with 5.43.

Nola has something to prove too. After coming up short during his last outing in NLCS Game 2, he'll be ready to prove himself once more on eight days rest. The last time he pitched against Houston — also at Minute Maid Park — was perhaps the best start of his career.

For 6.2 innings, Nola was perfect in the Phillies Wild Card clincher. He struck out nine, walked none, and threw 88 pitches. Yordan Álvarez finally broke up the perfecto in the seventh with a line drive single. And even though Jose Altuve, Jeremy Pena and Alex Bregman were lifted in the seventh, Nola still dominated the heart of the Astros line three times to great effect.

Now he'll get a chance to do so again on the biggest stage in baseball.

For more on the Houston Astros, go check out our coverage over at Inside the Astros!

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