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Aaron Nola is back, but believes Zack Wheeler should start on Opening Day 2024

Could Zack Wheeler make his first Opening Day start in 2024? (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

There were plenty of smiles at Citizens Bank Park’s Pass and Stow Monday afternoon, as the Philadelphia Phillies held a press conference announcing a seven-year extension with Aaron Nola, a pact that will reportedly pay him $172 million.

A first-round pick in 2014, Nola has already spent parts of nine seasons with the Phillies. Assuming he plays out his contract with the Phillies, he’ll have spent 16 seasons with the team. It would be almost impossible to top the legacies of Hall of Famers Steve Carlton and Robin Roberts, but Nola has a chance to finish his career among the top five in virtually every major pitching category in Phillies history.

Perhaps the most interesting records Nola will now have a chance to challenge are Carlton’s marks for Opening Day starts. Nola has started the last six Opening Days for the Phillies, with the most recent pitcher other than him to take the ball in the season opener for the franchise Jeremy Hellickson. Carlton made 14 total Opening Day starts for the Phillies, which may be out of Nola’s reach. However, the most consecutive Opening Day starts Carlton made was 10, doing so from 1977-86. Fellow Hall of Famer Jim Kaat got the ball on Opening Day in 1976, the only time in a 15-year stretch that it wasn’t Carlton toeing the rubber to open the season.

Matching or breaking Carlton’s franchise record for consecutive Opening Day starts is a realistic goal for Nola, but not one that the 30-year-old says he’s thought about. In fact, if he was making the pick, his streak of six consecutive Opening Day starts would come to an end on March 28, 2024, when the Phillies will welcome the Atlanta Braves to Citizens Bank Park.

“Not really, man. I think Wheels should get the next Opening Day start, honestly,” Nola said with a laugh. “What that guy has done is incredible.”

While it was a funny moment, Nola was serious, going on to say that he would be fine if Wheeler gets the Opening Day start in 2024. And based off of their 2023 seasons, Zack Wheeler is the more deserving choice. Nola was largely effective during the postseason, but posted a 4.46 ERA and 4.03 FIP across 193 innings in 2023, allowing a career-high 32 home runs. Wheeler — who finished sixth in NL Cy Young Award voting — ended this past season with a 3.61 ERA and 3.15 FIP over 192 innings, before a dominant postseason run. Wheeler has never started on Opening Day, and it may be a nice gesture to him as he enters a contract year

to give him the opportunity to do so.

Still, it would be cool to see Nola chase history. Wheeler maybe hasn’t started on Opening Day before, but he started Game 1 in the 2022 and 2023 NLWCS, and Game 1 of the NLCS in each year as well. He knows how the Phillies feel about him, and even if he doesn’t start on Opening Day, there will be plenty of big opportunities for Wheeler in his contract year.