The Phillies are sending Zack Wheeler to the mound on Opening Day today at Nationals Park, hoping and expecting it will be the first step for another season in the Cy Young Award conversation.
First pitch is at 4:05 p.m. with NBC10 and NBCSportsPhilly+ televising.
Wheeler, making his second straight Opening Day start, was second in voting last season for the award that goes to the National League’s top pitcher, as he was in 2021. Wheeler is coming off his winningest season, going 16-7, while also compiling his lowest career ERA at 2.57.
He also had 224 strikeouts in his 200 innings pitched, thanks to his dazzling collection of command, velocity and movement.
Wheeler has a 2.94 ERA in his five Phillies seasons, covering 829 1/3 innings. How stellar is that?
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The last Phillies pitcher to throw 1,000 innings with an ERA under 3.00 was Hall of Famer Jim Bunning from 1964-67 and 1970-71.
Follow here throughout today’s Phillies-Nationals game for the latest updates and analysis:
Phillies lineup vs Nationals on Opening Day
As expected, Trea Turner will lead off as Phillies manager Rob Thomson shakes up his batting order by moving usual leadoff-man Kyle Schwarber to the clean-up spot with lefty MacKenzie Gore pitching for Washington. Here’s the order:
Nationals lineup vs Phillies on Opening Day
Here’s how the Nationals will bat against Zack Wheeler today:
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Contact Kevin Tresolini at ktresolini@delawareonline.com and follow on Twitter @kevintresolini. Support local journalism by subscribing to delawareonline.com and our DE Game Day newsletter.
