April 24, 2024
Eric Hartline/USA TODAY Sports
Aaron Nola and the Phillies' starting pitching have been dominant through the early part of the season.
The Phillies' starting pitching has stormed out of the gate as one of the best in baseball in the early part of the season.
Between Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Ranger Suárez, Cristopher Sánchez, and a resurgent Spencer Turnbull, the five-man rotation has been shutting club after club down, racking up strikeouts in bunches, eating up innings, and even flirting with no-hit bids.
They've been dominant, which has helped push the Phils to a 15-9 start and compensated for points where the bats and bullpen were searching for their footing.
And they've been so dominant, in fact, that maybe it isn't too far-fetched to compare the 2024 rotation so far to the last truly assembled Philadelphia powerhouse: the four-ace lineup of Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, Roy Oswalt, and Joe Blanton from 2011.
Wheeler, Nola, Suárez, and Sanchez – after his three-inning, five-run setback Tuesday night in Cincinnati – have each made five starts, while Turnbull has been through four and will likely make his final one on Wednesday night before moving to the bullpen to make way for Taijuan Walker.
Using those as the barometer, here is how the Phillies' 2024 starting rotation compares to that of the 102-win 2011 club at the same point in the year:
| 2024 | GS | W-L | ERA | IP | CG | SO | HR |
| Wheeler, R | 5 | 1-3 | 2.30 | 31.1 | 0 | 38 | 2 |
| Nola, R | 5 | 3-1 | 3.16 | 31.1 | 0 | 26 | 6 |
| Suárez, L | 5 | 4-0 | 1.36 | 33.0 | 1 | 32 | 2 |
| Sanchez, L | 5 | 1-3 | 2.96 | 24.1 | 0 | 28 | 0 |
| Turnbull, R | 4 | 2-0 | 1.23 | 22.0 | 0 | 22 | 1 |
| 2011 | GS | W-L | ERA | IP | CG | SO | HR |
| Halladay, R | 5 | 3-1 | 2.41 | 37.1 | 1 | 39 | 1 |
| Lee, L | 5 | 2-2 | 4.18 | 32.1 | 1 | 39 | 4 |
| Hamels, L | 5 | 3-1 | 3.13 | 31.2 | 0 | 34 | 1 |
| Oswalt, R | 5 | 3-1 | 3.33 | 27.0 | 0 | 21 | 2 |
| Blanton, R | 4 | 0-1 | 5.92 | 24.1 | 0 | 17 | 2 |
Numbers via baseball-reference
And by that point, the 2011 Phils were 16-8, were well on their way to the best regular season in franchise history, and were heavy World Series favorites the whole way through – you know, until that damn squirrel had something to say about it...
Anyway, a few other points...
• If you're wondering where Vance Worley is in the 2011 table, he didn't come into the picture until the end of April, when Blanton went on the injured list and the Phillies looked to him to take on the fifth-starting role upon his call-up – a role he ended up pitching well enough in to hold on to for a good while.
• Suárez has taken a massive leap as the third starter so far this season and has been so dialed in that he's on a 25-inning scoreless streak, the longest such streak for a Phillies starter since...Cliff Lee in 2011 (per MLB.com's Todd Zolecki)
That calm and effortlessly cool composure on the mound sure looks familiar, too.
Air Ranger!! pic.twitter.com/OauqO9vbpi
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) April 22, 2024
Cliff Lee, World Series Pop-Up Catch Mechanics 🥱 pic.twitter.com/8W2IFPEMKX
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) April 21, 2024
• Complete games feel like a rarity anymore when not considerably all that long ago, it wasn't surprising at all to see someone like Halladay go the full nine. Suárez has pitched one of the just four complete games so far in 2024.
• Wheeler's record right now isn't ideal, but a lack of run support through his first three starts, some rotten luck, and a grand slam on his part against the Pirates on April 14 didn't do him any favors. He bounced back in a major way though with a scoreless 7.1 innings against the White Sox last go around that he was also pushing a no-hit bid for.
• A notable difference in the makeup of the 2024 rotation compared to 2011, other than that 2024 isn't as star-studded of a group: Only Wheeler and Turnbull are the arms in the current rotation who were brought in from the outside. Nola, Suárez, and Sanchez are all homegrown.
With 2011, Halladay was acquired via trade; Lee through trade, trade away, then sign back; Blanton through trade; and then Oswalt through trade. Hamels was the only homegrown talent there up until Worley joined him for a bit.
The Dave Dombrowski-led Phillies of today do spend a lot of money, but they're built from within a bit more than most would think at face value.
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