3 reasons the Phillies can pull off a World Series upset

2. Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola

In postseason baseball, momentum is only as good as the next day’s starting pitcher, and the Phillies have two bona fide aces at the top of their staff.

The Phillies are in the World Series due in large part to the magical right arms of Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola. They’re 5-2 when either of them starts this postseason, including Sunday’s series-clinching win over the Padres when Wheeler went six strong innings, giving up only two runs while striking out eight.

Wheeler missed more than a month with inflammation in his right forearm before returning in late September. He’s given up six total runs in six starts since.

His electric fastball has been even better this October. Wheeler threw one pitch at least 99 mph all regular season; he threw five just on Sunday, topping out at 99.5 mph. His fastball averaged 95.9 mph in the regular season, but 97.1 so far through four postseason starts.

The Phillies should be confident that Nola could beat Houston’s powerful lineup because he just did it.  On Oct. 2, in his final regular season start, Nola shut down the Astros and took a perfect game all the way until there were two outs in the seventh inning. Nola has a 2.61 ERA in nine starts since the beginning of September and already has two scoreless outings this postseason.

If the Phillies can extend a potential matchup against the Astros to six games, it guarantees that Wheeler and Nola will start twice each. It’s a recipe for success that the Astros are only too familiar with.

In 2019, the Astros went into the Fall Classic as equally heavy favorites against the Washington Nationals. The Nationals, though, had two weapons: Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg. They won all four games those two aces started on their way to pulling off the upset.

The Phillies have their own dynamic duo, two pitchers capable of going on that same run.