Phillies' Game 3 Pitching Plans Could Have Been So Much Easier

The Philadelphia Phillies rallied for a thrilling extra-inning win over the Atlanta Braves in Game 2 of their Wild Card Series on Wednesday, forcing a winner-take-all Game 3 on Thursday evening.

It's looking more and more like the Phillies will start Aaron Nola for the deciding game, a decision that looks a lot loss dicey than it would have three months ago.

However, Philadelphia wouldn't even be in the position to have to trust Nola — who didn't look great over his final two regular-season starts, by the way — if it would have just taken care of business before the final day of the 162-game campaign.

The Phillies had ample opportunities to lock down a playoff spot beforehand, but a four-game losing streak heading into the regular-season finale forced Philadelphia to throw Zack Wheeler out on to the mound for the last game, essentially ruling him out as a starter for the Wild Card Series.

Wheeler is expected to be available out of the bullpen Thursday, if necessary, but in a perfect world, he would have started Game 1 of the series, which would have allowed the Phillies to then go with some combination of Cristopher Sanchez and Jesus Luzardo in Games 2 and 3.

Instead, Philadelphia's hopes rest on the right arm of Nola, who posted a 4.67 ERA in 2026 and surrendered seven runs over seven innings in his last two starts.

Now, it should be noted that Nola had been terrific for the better part of two months prior to his last couple of rough outings. In fact, he posted a 2.65 ERA and 10.9 K/9 across six starts in August and a 3.29 ERA through five outings in September.

But you can bet the Phillies would much rather have one of their big three pitchers on the bump in the deciding game of this series against the Braves.

To be fair, Atlanta doesn't have much of a concrete plan for Game 3, either. The general expectation is that the Braves will use Grant Holmes and work from there. Holmes posted a very solid 3.44 ERA during the regular season, but his 1.305 WHIP and 4.76 FIP is a clear indication that the 30-year-old is hittable.

Still, for a Philadelphia squad that is in desperate need of a playoff series win here in order to avoid what would almost surely be sweeping changes this winter, you would like more of a clear advantage on the mound.

We'll see if Nola is able to get the job done on Thursday night.