The Philadelphia Phillies provided an update on the ace of their pitching staff Zack Wheeler this weekend. The news was not good, but was expected.
Wheeler will miss the remainder of the 2025 season, including the playoffs. The ace's absence leaves a gaping hole in the Phillies' starting rotation, however, the club still has competent starting pitching that can be trusted in a postseason series.
This weekend provided the organization and fans some hope after seeing positive outings from both Aaron Nola and Ranger Suárez.
Aaron Nola and Ranger Suárez gave Phillies exactly what they needed after learning Zack Wheeler's season is over
After returning from the injured list on Aug.17, Nola got beat up by the Washington Nationals in his first start since May 14. The right-hander allowed six runs on seven hits over just 2 1/3 innings.
He bounced back, though, in a rematch against the Nationals on Saturday night. He turned in a quality start after pitching six innings and allowing three runs, only two of which were earned. The outing was big for both Nola's confidence and for instilling trust from the organization and fans.
One of the most encouraging sights was seeing the longest-tenured Phillie's fastball velocity back up. He hit 94 mph on a few occasions which is an improvement from earlier in the season.
Aaron Nola 1st-inning velo pic.twitter.com/1cCVuUPlUv
— John Foley (@2008Philz) August 23, 2025
Nola felt good after his start per Paul Casella of MLB.com. Postgame, he spoke about his fastball and how it set up his other pitches.
“When the velocity is up a little bit like that, I’m on top of it a little bit more and I get a little more jump before it gets to the plate," Nola said, per Casella. "The fastball felt good tonight and it set up some other stuff, especially my curveball.”
The Phillies' 2011 first-round pick wasn't the only starter to pitch well this weekend. Suárez twirled a gem of his own in Sunday's series finale. The lefty pitched seven shutout innings while allowing just three hits and fanning 11 Nationals hitters.
7️⃣ shutty and a career high 1️⃣1️⃣ strikeouts for Ranger! pic.twitter.com/C321vfF58B
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) August 24, 2025
This was his second consecutive game with double-digit strikeouts after retiring 10 Seattle Mariners via the strikeout in his previous outing. The strong week led to Suárez being named the NL Player of the Week.
After dominating in May and June, the unflappable left-hander hit some road bumps in July and August. However, it seems as though Suárez may be hitting his stride again at just the right time.
With Wheeler out, the Phillies will need everyone else in the rotation to step up. Cristopher Sánchez has been a workhorse all season long and figures to step into the top-of-the-rotation role that Wheeler's injury has left vacant.
If Nola and Suárez can continue to pitch well, it would make setting a postseason rotation a bit easier on manager Rob Thomson. Jesús Luzardo and Taijuan Walker lengthen the Phillies' options a bit as both pitchers have been better recently.
Luzardo was rocked in late May and early June. However, since then, he has found some consistency. He has not allowed more than three earned runs in any of his four starts so far in August.
Walker has a 3.39 ERA this season as a starter and has looked much more competent than he did in his first two seasons in a Phillies uniform.
With a postseason push approaching, the last thing that the club needed was an injury to a star player such as Wheeler. However, the organization has starting pitching depth right now. In a postseason series, the most starters that they will need is four.
While the Wheeler news is devastating, this club does not seem like they have taken a major step back. It made a deep playoff run more difficult, but there are pieces in-house who can step up and handle some potent lineups come October.