Wednesday was another example of how bad it's gotten for Philadelphia Phillies right-hander Aaron Nola. It's now gotten to the point that he may be involuntarily relinquishing a postseason rotation spot to someone else. Nola appears severely broken and time is running out to fix him.
Facing the Milwaukee Brewers, Nola allowed five first inning runs before even recording an out but ended up getting through five innings, per MLB.com's Adam McCalvy. His final line was five innings pitched, six hits, six earned runs, two walks and six strikeouts. The Phillies eventually answered back but fell short by a score of 6-3 and failed to grow the division lead after the New York Mets' loss earlier in the day.
FIVE RUNS BEFORE RECORDING A SINGLE OUT https://t.co/UvBHDdAbW7 pic.twitter.com/287iEPGvqb
— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) September 4, 2025
Nola isn't giving the team a fair chance to win every time he takes the ball, and more importantly, he is probably costing himself a shot at true redemption.
Aaron Nola can't continue this way if he wants to pitch in postseason for Phillies
The Phillies lost their ace Zack Wheeler to a terrible diagnosis of thoracic outlet syndrome after a blood clot formed near his right shoulder. He's now done for the season, and that means the Phillies need as many hands as possible to have a shot at this year's World Series title.
Even with the injury to Wheeler, Nola has made it nearly impossible to assume he is a shoo-in for the postseason roster. Nola historically has been a solid pitcher, with a career 3.83 ERA and 1.15 WHIP across 11 MLB seasons (all with the Phillies). The 2025 season on the other hand, has been an absolute nightmare scenario for everyone involved.
On top of hitting the injured list for the first time since 2017 with an ankle sprain and a rib stress fracture, he's also barreling towards the worst year of his professional career. Across 13 starts, he has a 6.78 ERA, 1.51 WHIP and 72 strikeouts over 69 innings pitched. His worst season prior was in 2016, when he pitched to a 4.78 ERA over 111 innings.
The Phillies were also hoping that the three months off would reset Nola to get him back to his old ways, but it appeared to have the opposite effect, per MLB.com's Paul Casella. As far as the rotation goes, Cristopher Sánchez (2.66 ERA) has proved to be the new ace and Game 1 starter with Ranger Suárez (3.02 ERA), Jesús Luzardo (4.05 ERA) and Taijuan Walker (3.92 ERA) to follow. Nola could go to the bullpen, but that isn't seeming too likely either.
The Phillies need all the assurance they can get before entering another postseason appearance with high aspirations. Before the year began, it was believed that the Phillies' rotation could be one they could ride all the way to a championship. The regular season proved that until Wheeler went down. The club has lost some of that shine with Nola stumbling so it's now or never for him to step up or else he'll have to watch from the sideline.