Zack Wheeler named Phillies Opening Day starter

Zack Wheeler will start Opening Day for the Phillies, Rob Thomson told reporters, including Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer, after Sunday’s spring training game against the Blue Jays in Clearwater.

Wheeler has one more spring tuneup left before his first career Opening Day start. He will likely oppose the Braves’ Spencer Strider on March 28 at Citizens Bank Park.

Wheeler threw 60 pitches and allowed only one run on a home run to Joey Votto that should have been called a double across four innings in his third spring start on Sunday.

Wheeler getting the nod snaps Aaron Nola’s streak of Phillies Opening Day starts at six. Nola will likely start the second game of the season on March 30, barring placement on the paternity list. Nola’s wife Hunter is due to give birth to the couple’s first child in early April.

There was some belief that Nola’s streak would continue this year. Wheeler did not make his first spring start until March 5, after Wheeler’s third child was born and the three-year, $126 million extension was signed. Nola, who had two spring starts under his belt before Wheeler made one, was lined up to pitch the opener. Instead, the Phillies tweaked Wheeler’s schedule and now he’s on track to pitch Opening Day.

Nola has said multiple times that he believes Wheeler deserves the honor over him, so it wasn’t surprising to hear that Nola was happy with the decision.

“That’s who Aaron is,” Thomson told reporters. “He’s a great team guy. He felt like Wheels deserved it.”

Wheeler has been one of the best pitchers in baseball since joining the Phillies in 2020. In four seasons with the Phillies, Wheeler is 43-25 with a 3.06 ERA in 629 1/3 innings. Among pitchers who have thrown at least 600 innings since 2020, only Corbin Burnes (2.86) has a lower ERA than Wheeler.

Opening Day in Philadelphia should be a pitcher’s duel. Strider has been the winning pitcher in all eight regular season games he has pitched against the Phillies in his career. He has been the losing pitcher in all three postseason games he has started against the Phillies.

Wheeler will be tasked with keeping the Phillies’ opening weekend winning streak against Atlanta alive. The Phillies have six straight wins (two series sweeps) against the Braves during the first weekend of the season dating back to 2019.