Today Is The Most Important Baseball Game Of Aaron Nola's Career And Possibly Life
Patrick Smith. Getty Images.Aaron Nola is 30-years-old and has been pitching in The Show for the Phillies since 2015. 235 games pitched (128 being quality starts). 5,815 batters faced. 22,367 pitches. 1,582 K's. 90 W's. All for The Fightins. And tonight could be his last start in a Phillies uniform. It's a big one, obviously, not only for the Phils who - HOT TAKE ALERT - should probably win Game 3 of a 5 game series when you're tied 1-1 at home if you want to advance to the NLCS. But today's start has Nola potentially pitching for tens of millions of dollars. That's not hyperbole. That's a literal fact.
See, Aaron Nola is a Free Agent at the end of this season. He's had an above average career in his 8 seasons as a big leaguer. Nola has flashed as an Ace-Like-Shit and has received Cy Young votes. He's also struggled at times, especially this season where he gave up a career high/barbaric 32 homeruns given up - 7th worst in MLB this year. Not great. However, thankfully for Nola, there was still time to turn his shit around in which he has done so completely dominating his last 3 starts, including spanking the Fish in the Wildcard Round.
The current top FA starting pitchers for next year are:
Aaron Nola
Marcus Stroman
Yoshinobu Yamamoto
Eduardo Rodriguez
Sonny Gray
Blake Snell
Ohtani (not pitching next year, obviously)
Where would you rank Nola on that list? Snell is winning another Cy Young this year so he's obviously #1, but after that Nola is right there for the #2 pitcher on the list (not counting Ohtani for obvious reasons). He's going to get most likely get, at minimum, 4-years/$100 million from somebody. And that's basement, bottom projection for Nola's future. 5-years, $110 is more realistic especially if the Phillies want to extend him for a "Hometown Discount". But if he shuts down what's considered to be historically the greatest baseball lineup of all-time and continues that dominance the rest of the playoffs, Aaron is going to get even more of a mega bag. 6/7 years worth $120/$140 milly won't be out of the question if Nola can pull off what he is certainly capable of pulling off the rest of the playoffs - Pure Dominance.
So, yeah, today is a big friggin' game not only for the Phillies (obviously), but for the man we've called our "Ace" for the better part of a decade. Let's get it done, Nola. 45K+ strong will be in your corner. Time to fufill all the destiny that's been promised not only for Philly, but for yourself.
5:07 first pitch. People have been tailgating since 7am. It's a Wednesday. Go Phils.