Aaron Nola looks to keep Phillies’ season alive in do-or-die Game 3 in Los Angeles

The Phillies play for their season on Wednesday night, and perhaps much more than just that. An era of lovable players and coaches, all of whom have perhaps turned their ugly heads.

The Phils dropped Games 1 and 2 at Citizens Bank Park on Saturday and Monday night, sticking to their typical October struggles: a lack of hitting from the stars on offense and poor pitching from the bullpen.

The top three in the order are 2-for-21 this series. The Phillies’ one through seven hitters in the first seven innings on Monday went 1-for-18 with seven strikeouts. They have now lost seven of their last eight playoff games and five of their last six at home.

However, they have a chance to avenge all of this on Wednesday night in Los Angeles, with first pitch at 9:08 p.m. ET on TBS.

And maybe the change of scenery is just what the Phillies need.

“It’s super stimulating and euphoric if everything is going for us,” Nick Castellanos said regarding the Phillies fans at home Monday night. “But then it’s a very uphill climb when you can feel that everything is amplified negatively, like if you do something bad, you’re going to get a negative response. So, it makes it harder to play freely. If everything is going good, and we’re rolling, it’s a b**** to play here if you’re an opposing team because the environment is amazing. But if we roll into adversity and the tide shifts, we’re playing more tight because we don’t want to be reprimanded for something bad and playing becomes more difficult.”

It sounds like some players agree with what Castellanos is preaching. However, Bryce Harper‘s opinion is a complete 180.

“I don’t feel that way,” Harper said Tuesday at Dodger Stadium. “I love playing at the Bank. I love our fans. I boo myself when I get out. I’m the same way.

“I trust in what they do. They show up for us every day, day in and day out. So if we deserve to be booed, if we deserve to — they spend their hard-earned dollar to come watch us play; they expect greatness out of us, and I expect greatness out of myself and my teammates as well.

“If they believe that, I don’t know what’s going through their head or mindset. We’ve got some of the best fans in baseball, and they make me play better. So I enjoy it.”

In a surprising move, Rob Thomson announced Aaron Nola as Game 3’s starter Monday night. It will be the fourth year in a row that Nola starts Game 3.

It feels fitting that Nola is starting on Wednesday. On the night that could be the end of this era of the Phillies, and he is the one guy who has been here longer than the four-straight postseason run.

Nola has had the worst season of his 11-year career. He is 5-10 in 17 starts with a 6.01 ERA in 94.1 innings, featuring 97 strikeouts and a 1.35 WHIP. However, Nola went out with an extremely solid nine-strikeout performance against the Twins, where he allowed two hits and one earned run over eight innings. But it was the Twins, so, hard for it to hold a ton of significance.

Nola has a 7.93 ERA in the first inning this year. Only six pitchers have been worse. His first inning will feature Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Teoscar Hernandez, and possibly Freddie Freeman. Yikes.

Nola, in 10 postseason starts, has a 4.02 ERA, 58 strikeouts, and a 1.17 WHIP.

Ranger Suarez will be behind Nola Wednesday night.

“Nola’s never pitched out of the pen,” Thomson said. “I trust him.”

Suarez has a 1.43 ERA over 37.2 playoff innings in his career. That is elite. Suarez, without Zack Wheeler, might just be the Phillies’ best postseason pitcher.

The Phillies originally selected Suarez to start Game 3 and have him sit in the bullpen and enter Game 1 or 2 if need be. There were multiple opportunities in either game for him to come in, and he never did.

Suarez’s final two starts were rough. He threw a combined 8.1 innings against the Diamondbacks and Marlins, allowed 17 hits, nine earned runs, one walk, and struck out six. He exited the Miami start early after taking a comebacker near the groin. We have not seen him since.

This is odd because the Phillies are claiming nothing is wrong with him.

So then why has he not been used? No one knows.

Will he even be used after Nola on Wednesday? It is hard to say because we have heard the truth from the Phillies regarding Suarez all postseason.

Anyway, here is how the Phillies will line up in the powder blues for what may be their final game of 2025:

1. SS Trea Turner
2. DH Kyle Schwarber
3. 1B Bryce Harper
4. 3B Alec Bohm
5. CF Brandon Marsh
6. C J.T. Realmuto
7. LF Max Kepler
8. RF Nick Castellanos
9. 2B Bryson Stott

This lineup will look for the Phillies’ first playoff home run in 163 postseason plate appearances. This goes back to Game 2 of last season against the Mets, where Harper and Castellanos went back-to-back.

Once again, Harrison Bader is out of the lineup with his tight groin. He was doing agility drills in the outfield, and will be available to pinch hit, and might even be able to run the bases if he gets on base. But he is not good enough yet to run down a fly ball in the gap.

The Phils will face Dodgers stud Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Wednesday, who has allowed zero earned runs over his last 24 innings and has a 0.53 ERA over his last 5 starts with a .099 opponents batting average. Yeesh.

Yamamoto pitched against the Phils back on April 4 in Philadelphia, where he went six innings, allowing one run on three hits with three walks and five strikeouts. The run came as Turner was stealing third, and Yamamoto threw it away into left field. He was charged with the loss, as Jesus Luzardo threw a gem and the Phils won, 3-2.

Yamamoto went 6.2 innings against the Reds in Game 2 of the Wild Card and allowed no runs on four hits, two walks, and struck out nine.

Here is how the Dodgers will line up as they go for the series sweep, and their 10th win in a row:

1. DH Shohei Ohtani
2. SS Mookie Betts
3. RF Teoscar Hernandez
4. 1B Freddie Freeman
5. C Will Smith
6. LF Kike Hernandez
7. 3B Max Muncy
8. CF Andy Pages
9. 2B Tommy Edman

It is Smith’s first start of the postseason, and his first since suffering a hairline fracture in his right hand on September 3. He has pinch-hit and entered at catcher in the middle of both Game 1 and 2.

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