Phillies Pitching Staff Makes Them Biggest Threat to Dodgers for NL Pennant

The Philadelphia Phillies are already a championship-caliber team, but one new pitcher makes them even more dangerous.

Feb 28, 2025; Clearwater, Florida, USA; Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Jesus Luzardo (44) throws a pitch during the first inning against the Boston Red Sox at BayCare Ballpark. | Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

The Philadelphia Phillies are off to a 2-1 start after winning their season-opening series against the Washington Nationals over the weekend.

Playoff contenders like the Phillies are supposed to win series against rebuilding teams like the Nationals, and no one should overreact to one series in baseball. Instead, it's best to use preseason predictions as a baseline to compare against current regular-season results.

Philadelphia is a veteran team with championship aspirations, so it should be in the mix for a playoff spot as long as the roster stays healthy.

For ace Zack Wheeler, even if he doesn't win his elusive first Cy Young award, what's important is that he's still performing at a high level in his age-35 season.

On Opening Day, Wheeler struck out six batters over six innings of one-run ball, finishing with a no-decision. More importantly, Wheeler's velocity on his fastball and spin rate on his breaking pitches against Washington was in the same range as his 2024 averages.

It's only one start, but last year's NL Cy Young runner-up is still a premium pitcher who appears to be at the top of his game.

Veteran Aaron Nola had a rough outing during Sunday's series finale, giving up five runs in 5 1/3 innings in a losing effort. He struck out eight batters but allowed two homers, both with men on base.

While it looks like Nola got rocked on the surface, all five of his runs allowed came on his two home run mistakes. Further, Nola's velocity and spin rates were comparable to his averages from a season ago.

The most important takeaway for both star hurlers is that their stuff looked good in their season debuts.

Then there's the big one. Newcomer Jesus Luzardo gave up two runs in a winning effort in the second game of the season. He also struck out an impressive 11 batters over five innings.

Luzardo had a rough 2024 for the Miami Marlins, appearing in only 12 games while posting a 5.00 ERA. That tough season makes him a prime Comeback Player of the Year contender, and he showed in his first start that he's going to be a factor in that race, as expected.

Encouragingly, Luzardo averaged 95.2 mph on his four-seamer in 2024, but averaged 96.9 mph in his season debut.

The Phillies already had a championship-caliber roster before they brought in Luzardo, but their high-powered lefty can bring the team to another level.

It's just one game, but Luzardo has the potential to put together a career year in 2025, and his first start was very promising.