Aaron Nola appreciates that the Phillies ‘have a winning culture now’ as he faces an uncertain future

Aaron Nola is treating every start like it’ll be his last in a Phillies uniform. He doesn’t know how deep of a run his team will make this postseason, which begins Tuesday with a wild-card series against the Miami Marlins. He doesn’t know if the Phillies will pursue him in free agency this winter. He’s spent the last nine years of his life with one organization and could soon find himself with another.

So Nola, who will start Game 2 on Wednesday, has used this time to soak in as much as he can. He’s thought about how, for the first seven years of his big league career, he’d spend Oct. 2 packing up his apartment. On Monday, he spent Oct. 2 at a workout day in Citizens Bank Park.

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It is different, but validating. This was where Nola, 30, always hoped he’d get. When he was drafted No. 7 overall by the Phillies in 2014, it was obvious to him that he was part of a rebuild. Players who had led the Phillies to the playoffs a few years earlier were getting traded away. Some of those players were in the final years of their contracts.

He was part of a bright and hopeful future, but it took a while to get there. The Phillies won only 63 games in Nola’s rookie year in 2015. He didn’t see them reach .500 in a regular season until 2019. He has experienced two in-season managerial firings. But as the years went by, he began to see signs of growth.

Septembers started to carry more weight. In 2022, it led to a postseason berth, after Nola pitched 6⅔ shutout innings on Oct. 3 to help his team clinch the third National League wild-card spot. This season hasn’t been nearly as stressful. The Phillies clinched their playoff berth a week ago. To Nola, that is just another sign of growth.

“I’m usually packing up and going home today, and now I’m not,” he said. “It’s a winning culture now. We expect to win. The fans expect us to win.

“The rebuild probably took longer than people wanted it to, but we did it. This is a winning organization now. And to me, I appreciate that more, on a personal level, because I’ve seen us go through it.”

If this is the end of Nola’s Phillies tenure, a postseason run feels like an appropriate finale. He’s had a frustrating season, but there is reason to believe he’s hit his stride of late. Pitching coach Caleb Cotham says when Nola is at his best, he’s wrapped up in the game. He’s not thinking about runners on base. It’s just him versus the hitter.

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Over his last two starts, Cotham has seen that version of Nola. He’s gotten himself into jams, but he’s gotten out of them. He has looked locked in. He’s allowed just three earned runs over 12⅔ innings with one home run and no walks. But most of all, Nola has looked like he is in control — which has been a struggle for him this year.

“It feels like the game is a little more managed,” Cotham said. “It’s a little less hectic. He’s pitching freer. That’s what I see. The quality of the pitches, the strike zone command, taking care of two-strike pitches, the changeup … it’s all been vintage Nola.”

Nola feels this, too. Earlier in the season, he’d find himself worrying about runners on base. He had trouble adjusting to the pitch clock and the limited number of pickoffs per at-bat, which led to a wide chasm in his splits with the bases full and the bases empty.

But over those last two starts, he hasn’t been thinking about base runners. He’s been thinking about executing his pitches. In August, Cotham approached Nola about adding a slide step. Nola hadn’t used it since 2017, but now, he’s become more comfortable with the idea. He’s using it regularly in games, and guys are running less. It has made a difference.

“It just gives them a different look,” Nola said. “I hadn’t done it for five years, so guys probably think, ‘He doesn’t have a slide step, he’s pretty slow to the plate.’ And I know that I’m not that quick to the plate when I don’t slide step. It’s no secret around the league.

“So, I felt like I wanted to start adding it in again, just to try to keep the guy right there, so we have an opportunity to get a double play.”

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The other difference of late has been in Nola’s delivery. After his Sept. 15 start in St. Louis, he noticed that he was stepping across his body a little bit. He and Cotham worked on squaring his shoulders up. It’s allowed him to see the plate better. He’s had better command to the glove side as a result.

“The key to his game is establishing down and away and down and glove side,” Cotham said. “And if he can do that, he can throw any pitch. His super power is multiple offerings on both sides of the plate, and the delivery unlocked his ability to get his fastball to the glove side the way he wanted to. Not yank it over there, but drive the ball. Drive it down. Get the sink on the sinker. Have the four seam and the sinker be different pitches. That helps him find his changeup and his curveball. It’s all looked really good.”

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The Phillies hope it will continue to look really good. Regardless, when Nola takes the mound on Wednesday night, he will give his team, this city, everything he has. It could be the last opportunity for him to do so.

“Wednesday could be my last start here,” he said. “I don’t know what the future holds. Obviously I want to pitch here again in the postseason. But I don’t know what the future holds. So I’m going to try to cherish it as much as I can.”