Phillies: RHP Zack Wheeler
2023 stats: 13-6, 3.61 ERA, 192 innings, 212 strikeouts, 1.08 WHIP
Wheeler is throwing harder (and more effectively) now than he was all season, which is a real “ruh-roh” moment for the teams that have to face the Phillies. Whereas other teams have starting pitchers with the gas light on, Wheeler has been getting progressively better. This is a big deal because he’s one of the few horses left in the postseason, a guy whose best-case scenario is eight or nine innings, and not six or seven like the typical starter today.
Of course, we’re not even a month removed from a start in which Wheeler allowed six runs and three home runs in five innings, so it’s not as if the Braves will be helpless. They just can’t miss on the rare pitches that float over the middle of the plate.
Braves: LHP Max Fried
2023 stats: 8-1, 2.55 ERA, 77 2/3 innings, 80 strikeouts, 1.13 WHIP
Since Fried came into the league in 2017, the Braves are 86-36 in his starts. That is, of course, absurd. Win-loss record doesn’t tell you much about an individual pitcher when it’s stripped of team context, but it can tell you an awful lot about the combination of a team and pitcher. When Fried pitches, the Braves win 70 percent of the time, which isn’t much different than the 2001 Mariners or 1998 Yankees. When he pitches, the Braves are akin to an all-time juggernaut.
He didn’t pitch a whole lot this year, just 14 starts, because of a combination of hamstring, arm and blister issues. It’s that last one that had Fried on the IL at the end of the regular season, and it’s not not a concern, but he was quick to point out that he’s dealt with blister issues on and off for a lot of his career, and he’s somewhat used to it. He’s pitching, which generally means the Braves are one of the best teams in baseball, which they’d also be if a 49-year-old Russ Ortíz was starting. But Fried makes them even better.
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