The Phillies like their starting pitching, but so does every other team in the NL East | Bob Brookover

The pitching news coming out of spring training down in Clearwater, Fla. has been mostly good for the Phillies.

They entered camp in the hope that the bullpen would be vastly improved and the additions of Archie Bradley, Jose Alvarado, Brandon Kintzler, and Sam Coonrod have provided plenty of optimism.

They also entered camp needing to fill out the final two spots in the starting rotation and free-agent additions Matt Moore and Chase Anderson have not disappointed. That duo has allowed a single run on six hits over a combined 15 innings heading into Saturday’s game against Toronto.

And still this question lingers as the start of the regular season nears: Is the Phillies’ rotation good enough in a division loaded with terrific starting rotations?

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One reason that question remains is because of the guy at the very top of the starting rotation. In case you haven’t been paying attention, Aaron Nola is not having a particularly good spring. In fact, he’s having the worst spring training of his career. In three starts, he has allowed 15 hits and 10 earned runs in 8 2/3 innings for a 10.38 ERA that definitely looks odd next to his name.

There’s no reason to be overly concerned because the history of baseball is loaded with great pitchers and players that had some hideous spring trainings that were faded memories by the time the regular season was over. Nola, in fact, had an 8.38 Grapefruit League ERA in 2017 before going 12-11 with a 3.54 ERA during the regular season.

Nola is working on a cut fastball that he has never thrown before in games and he said he was “working a lot” on his changeup during his most recent outing Tuesday against Toronto when he was tagged for six runs on seven hits in 2 2/3 innings. Nola will likely pitch Monday against the New York Yankees, then one final time in Florida against Detroit before he faces Atlanta in the April 1 season opener at Citizens Bank Park.

There’s little reason to think he will be anything other than very good again in 2021, but it’s still fair to wonder if that’s good enough in the NL East.

“We start out with the Braves three games and then New York [Mets] for three,” Phillies right fielder Bryce Harper said. “So you got [Max] Fried, [Mike] Soroka, and [Ian] Anderson the first three and then [Carlos] Carrasco, [Marcus] Stroman, and [Jacob] deGrom on the third day [against the Mets]. You’re facing six guys that could win the Cy Young Award and we’re not even talking about Washington yet.

“And nobody talks about Miami, and they have one of the best staffs around. I don’t understand why nobody talks about them because facing them all year around is going to be tough.”

The pitching matchups for those opening series aren’t out yet, but the Phillies will not be facing Soroka, who is still recovering from Achilles tendon surgery that ended his 2020 season. Insert veteran Charlie Morton into Soroka’s spot and Harper’s slightly exaggerated point remains valid. The Phils are also unlikely to face Carrasco, who suffered a torn hamstring that will send him to the injured list for the start of the season.

Fried, 26, was the ace of Atlanta’s staff last season and dominated in his two starts against the Phillies, holding them to a single run over 10 innings. He finished fifth in the 2020 National League Cy Young Award voting. Morton is only two seasons removed from finishing third in the American League Cy Young voting. Anderson, 23, was the third overall pick in the 2016 draft when the Phillies took Mickey Moniak first overall, and he burst onto the scene last year, going 3-2 with a 1.95 ERA in six regular-season starts before going 2-0 with a 0.96 ERA in four postseason outings.

If Soroka, 23, gets healthy and returns to his 2019 form when he finished sixth in the Cy Young voting, the Braves will have an intimidating young staff.

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The Mets, of course, have the best pitcher on the planet in deGrom. He has a 2.10 ERA over the last three seasons and, at 33, shows no signs of aging. He has struck out 16 batters and allowed just three hits in nine innings this spring.

Stroman is returning after opting out of the 2020 season because of COVID-19 and that significantly strengthens the New York rotation. The wild card for the Mets is Noah Syndergaard, who missed last season after undergoing Tommy John surgery. He is still only 28 years old, so if he can return in May or June as the Thor of old, the top of the Mets’ rotation will be a nightmare for the rest of the NL East.

Washington has the most accomplished rotation, but it is also by far the oldest. Max Scherzer, 36, showed some signs of slipping a year ago, although his 3.74 ERA would be the envy of the majority of pitchers across baseball. The Nats are also counting on the strong return of Stephen Strasburg, who only made two starts last season because of a nerve injury in his right hand that required surgery. They also need Patrick Corbin to be a lot better than he was a year ago and they have their fingers crossed that Jon Lester has something left in the tank at 37 after he posted a 5.17 ERA with the Cubs last season.

At the other end of the age spectrum, the Marlins have five starters who are 26 or younger who combined to go 14-10 with a 3.30 ERA last season. The best-known of the group in Philadelphia is Sixto Sanchez, but the ace of the bunch is Sandy Alcantara, who has a 3.69 ERA in 45 career starts, including a 4-1 mark and 2.82 ERA in six starts against the Phillies.

How many of those staffs do the Phillies match up well against?

It depends. It would help a lot if Nola could recapture the truly dominant form he displayed in 2018 when he finished third in the Cy Young voting. It would also help if he could overcome his September dips. In the last three years he has gone 4-9 with a 4.94 ERA in September and the team is 5-12 in his 17 starts.

It would help even more if Zack Wheeler could duplicate what he did last year over a 162-game season. He was particularly dominant against the N.L. East, posting a 2.41 ERA in his eight starts. And it would be huge if Zach Eflin’s terrific spring translated into a sensational season. And, finally, it would be enormous if Spencer Howard emerges as the star that every team hopes its top young prospects become.

“It’s going to be a tough division,” Nola said. “But that’s what makes it fun.”

The tough part is guaranteed. The fun part will only be true if the Phillies can successfully navigate their way through it.