Aaron Nola will take the mound at Citizens Bank Park Friday for the first postseason game in Philadelphia since 2011. If Nola can help deliver a victory, he’ll put the Phillies just one win away from advancing to the NLCS.
One day at a time is an overused cliche in sports, but this time of the year, you almost have to adopt the mindset to stay successful.
But it’s human nature to let your mind wander just a bit, especially when it’s possible that the Phillies could see Aaron’s brother Austin and the San Diego Padres with a trip to the World Series on the line. Have the two brothers talked about the possibility of playing each other in the NLCS?
“A little bit. Not really, though,” Nola said Thursday. “That would be pretty cool, pretty cool for my family as well. I don’t know when the last time two brothers played in one of those was before. But it’s pretty neat.”
Quickly, though, Nola reverted back to the one-day-at-a-time mindset.
“But I don’t want to jump ahead too far. I’ve got to focus on tomorrow and try to win a game tomorrow. That’s the first step.”
Nola was excellent in his first career postseason outing, pitching 6 2/3 scoreless innings in Game 2 of the NLWCS. In his final start of the regular season, the 29-year-old carried a perfect game into the seventh inning against the Houston Astros on the night the Phillies eventually clinched a postseason berth. Since the start of September, Nola has a 1.96 ERA over 4 1/3 innings.
If Nola stays as hot as he’s been, the Phillies may very well enter Saturday with a chance to eliminate the defending World Series Champions. Back in Philadelphia for the first time since Sept. 25, Nola has had more than enough to worry about in his own career.
But when the Phillies haven’t been playing, he’s made time to watch his older brother.
No one is suggesting Aaron had an easy route to where he’s at, but he was a first-round pick and made his Major League debut at the age of 22 in 2015. Austin was a fifth-round pick that didn’t appear in the majors until 2019, his age-29 season. The odds are astronomical for any two brothers to meet in an MLB playoff series, but of the two, Austin has been on the more improbable journey.
But like his younger brother, Austin was key in his team winning an NLWCS played entirely on the road. In Game 3 of the NLWCS against the New York Mets, Austin got the Padres on the board with a two-run single in the top of the second inning. San Diego would go on to take the win-or-go-home game by a score of 6-0.
And after losing Game 1 of the NLDS to the division-rival Los Angeles Dodgers, the Padres evened the series with a 5-3 victory in Game 2. Austin was 0-4, but he made a J.T. Realmuto-esque throw to gun down Mookie Beets in the bottom of the fifth inning:
Even as Aaron is experiencing the first playoff run of his career, he’s remained keenly aware of how Austin is playing for the Padres.
“I follow it,” Nola acknowledged. “He’s done really well. I watched a little bit of the game last night and a couple of the games when they were in New York. It’s good to see him succeeding in a Division Series. It’s good to see him healthy again. He’s doing really well.”
For now, Austin has bragging rights over Aaron. In a June start in San Diego, Aaron allowed just seven hits and one run over seven innings. But the one run — you guessed it — came on an RBI single by Austin. The Padres won the game 1-0.
Fortunately for the Phillies, Aaron took it in much more stride than Phil Maton did after allowing a hit to his younger brother, Nick, earlier this month.
But lifetime bragging rights could be on the line if the two meet in the NLCS next week. Friday, Aaron has a chance to put the Phillies a win away from a potential dream matchup for the Nola family.
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