Wheeler's postseason success akin to the greats

This story was excerpted from Todd Zolecki’s Phillies Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Zack Wheeler grew up outside Atlanta, which means he grew up watching Braves legends Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz. When Wheeler had Tommy John surgery in March 2015 with the Mets, he watched other great pitchers pitch.

“That was a time when I told myself I was going to watch some of the best pitchers in the game, whether they're righty or lefty, to see how they approach games, how they attack hitters,” Wheeler said Sunday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park. “You watch all the best. [Justin] Verlander, [Jacob] deGrom, [Clayton] Kershaw, all those type of guys. [Max] Scherzer. They just go right after guys. They trust their stuff. They have the stuff to get guys out, but they trust it at the same time.”

Wheeler has become someone every young pitcher should watch. Everybody will be watching him Monday night, when he starts Game 1 of the NL Championship Series against the D-backs at Citizens Bank Park.

Wheeler has a 2.59 ERA in eight career postseason starts. It ranks 19th out of 121 pitchers who have made eight or more postseason starts. That’s better than Hall of Fame pitchers Smoltz (2.67), Whitey Ford (2.71), Jim Palmer (2.75), Tom Seaver (2.77), Steve Carlton (3.12), Glavine (3.30), Maddux (3.36) and Pedro Martinez (3.53).

Wheeler’s 0.72 WHIP is best among those 123 pitchers. Next closest? Christy Mathewson at 0.85.

“I take pride in taking the ball Game 1,” Wheeler said. “You have Noles [Aaron Nola] over here. It's definitely an honor. And Ranger [Suárez] and [Taijuan Walker] and [Cristopher Sánchez]. They're all throwing the ball really well. It's an honor to take the ball Game 1, and you take a lot of pride in that, setting the tone that first game. That's a big deal for me, so you have to set the tone the first game and try to get that win."