Aaron Nola of the Phillies helped win the NL East title, which is only fitting

No player on the Phillies roster has suffered more than Aaron Nola.

He is the longest-tenured Phillie. He has seen the failures of his teammates Domonic Brown, Odúbel Herrera and Maikel Franco. He has been the victim of mismanagement by Joe Girardi, Gabe Kapler and even Ryne Sandberg, so to speak: Sandberg’s bizarre resignation just days before Nola’s major league debut sabotaged the 2015 season.

Nola was the victim of countless talk show analysts (and sports columnists) castigating him for his shortcomings … on the way to his 103 wins, the seventh-best record in franchise history. He bore it all with calm, grace and skill.

That’s why it was so fitting that it was Nola who started Monday’s 6-2 victory over the Cubs that gave the Phillies their first NL East title since 2011. That’s why he felt so much joy in the game’s final moments when Carlos Estévez threw the game’s final six pitches.

“I was sitting in the dugout. I could feel it when ‘Esty’ was out there closing the ball,” Nola said Tuesday, standing on a clubhouse carpet still slightly sticky from champagne residue. “I could feel the crowd like it was the postseason. That just added to the feeling of winning the division.”

The Phillies have had bigger games in Nola’s career: bat-slam wins and Bryce Harper winning and winning in World Series games. The Phillies have bigger stars than Nola: Harper is a former MVP, Zack Wheeler is the best pitcher in baseball since 2020, and only Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani hit home runs like Kyle Schwarber.

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And it wasn’t a game they absolutely had to win, since the Phillies already had a wild-card spot secured and winning the division was inevitable. It wasn’t a playoff game, either. It wasn’t even against a top team or rival; the Cubs are an anonymous opponent and they were four games over .500.

Nevertheless, it was a significant success.

It’s hard to get baseball players to understand the importance of winning the division. No matter how talented the team is, no matter how high the ultimate expectations are, every year when they come to spring training, their bosses tell them that the main goal, the first thing, is to win the division. That’s the only guaranteed path to the playoffs.

“We scored our first goal,” Nola said. “Wild cards are fine, but we won the division.”

Nola has pitched nine full major league seasons. He’s heard that call nine times. He’s failed eight times. In a row. Now he’s not only succeeded, he’s won the game that brought him success.

This is nothing new.

Since 2022, Nola has pitched in seven games that have clinched either a playoff berth, a playoff series or a division title. He has a 1.62 ERA in those games and the Phils are 6-1.

“He’s really something special,” said Phillies manager Rob Thomson, who as a coach watched the Yankees’ stars put their opponents under pressure. “He’s focused and stays really focused.”

Nola is proud of his clutch gene, but he is quick to point out that chance also plays a role. After all, Wheeler had pitched better the night before in a 2-1 loss to the Mets:

“I mean, we had chances to do that. Wheels played a great game in New York.”

Nola smiled. He filled the teapot in his locker with water from a bottle and then poured some loose red oolong leaves from a container into his teacup. He looked satisfied.

He has seemed lost several times over the last ten years.

He lost his mojo in 2021 when he couldn’t throw from the line of sight, couldn’t throw with runners in scoring position, couldn’t get past the sixth inning, and finished with a 4.63 ERA. He lost his mind in 2023, a contract year, which was further clouded when baseball implemented the pitch clock and his ERA rose again to 4.46. His teammates supported him throughout.

“It was special to do it with this group,” Nola said. “Many of us have been together for five or six years.”

The last three years have been special. Their 2022 World Series run through their 2023 NLCS run began with a start for Nola at the end of the 2022 season. He pitched 6⅔ scoreless innings in Game 160 in Houston, securing the Phillies’ first playoff berth in 11 years.

The memory is alive.

“I remember we got the wild card in Houston in 2022. I took a picture with (teammate Edmundo) Sosa,” Nola said. “(Monday) night, when we did it, we did it again.”

For the first time they achieved this as division champions.

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