August 25, 2026
Stephen Brashear/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Zack Wheeler has a 7.59 ERA through August.
Zack Wheeler and the Phillies certainly aren't used to this, and absolutely don't want to be.
The veteran right-hander, who looked like he had fully returned to his ace form before the calendar flipped to August, got shelled in a 9-2 loss to the Mariners in Seattle on Monday night.
Randy Arozarena drew a walk, Dominic Canzone singled into right, and then Julio Rodríguez got a hold of an 0-2 splitter for a three-run homer way into left, and all just three batters in.
And you just knew from there that Wheeler didn't have it from there. The real problem, though, is that he didn't have it again.
Wheeler fought until two batters into the fifth inning on Monday night, before back-to-back homers from Cal Raleigh (his second of the night) and Cole Young led interim manager Don Mattingly to finally pull him.
Wheeler's final line for the night: 4.0 innings pitched, 9 hits, 8 runs (all earned), 4 homers, 5 walks, and just four strikeouts.
He got the losing decision, his third in his last four starts to drop to 10-5, and needed 103 pitches just to get through those four innings and change.
Up to his start in the Dodgers series on July 21, Wheeler had been stellar, with a 10-2 record and a minuscule 2.16 ERA that gave the Phillies, despite all their problems, the best 1-2 starting pitching punch in baseball between himself and lefty Cristopher Sánchez.
Better yet, he was dependably going deep into games, going for an average of 6.3 innings per start, to the point where you might've never even known that he had only recently come back from procedures to address a blood clot and then thoracic outlet syndrome that ended his 2025 season.
But ever since, he's fallen off, and without a direct explanation that neither he nor the Phillies themselves have been able to pin it on.
Zack Wheeler has been struggling to pitch deep into games since the calendar turned to August.
From his July 27 start against the Marlins in Miami (an 8-7 Phillies loss) up to Monday night, Wheeler dropped to an 0-3 stretch with an inflated 8.51 ERA through six appearances, and hasn't gone any further than 5.1 innings pitched in any of them.
It's almost a complete inverse of the Phillies' situation.
Prior to August, they had boom-or-bust hitting, a highly flakey bullpen, and genuine concern about how they were going to win whenever Wheeler, Sánchez, or Jesús Luzardo weren't pitching.
They were heavily leaning on those guys as their 1-3 starters to get by.
But now, they've been hitting and running the bases a lot smarter, trying to be more deliberate about getting runners on and actually moving them, rather than trying to instantly clear them with a big swing for the fences. The bullpen has stabilized a bit, too, and Aaron Nola and now Andrew Painter have turned a considerable corner, where it's enough to not leave anyone holding their breath anymore whenever they have to take the bump – at least for now.
And all of that for the Phils coalesced into a nine-game winning streak that they took into Monday night, where they looked like a legitimate playoff team again and all while surging back into the race after the NL East with the Braves – the Phillies are 3.5 games back of Atlanta for first as of Tuesday morning.
Zack Wheeler has lost three of his last four starts for the Phils.
But if the Phillies are going to close the gap on the Braves, and have hopes of getting anywhere in October, they need Wheeler tearing through opposing batting orders.
But right now, they don't, and haven't figured out why. Because, really, this has never been a problem for them before.
"It's been a while," Wheeler told the press afterward of whether he's ever had this rough of a stretch before (via NBC Sports Philadelphia). "To be totally honest with you, and as humble as I can, it's been a while, and that's why it's so frustrating. I haven't had a stretch like this in a while, and I just don't really have anything else to say to be totally honest with you."
"Definitely games, but maybe not quite this long," said catcher J.T. Realmuto, who has caught the majority of Wheeler's starts since he arrived to Philadelphia in 2020 (also via NBCP). "But definitely, I've seen stretches where he hasn't been at his best. But we all struggle with times, and so I think it's just one of those – he's going through a tough time right now, but we have all the faith in the world that he's gonna come out of it."
They need him to.
"Really struggling the past few."
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) August 25, 2026
Zack Wheeler gets candid about his recent struggles and his plan to get back on track. | @WapnerNewman pic.twitter.com/JGkW1GAsKY
Realmuto didn't seem concerned much about the velocity and movement to Wheeler's pitches postgame, and neither did Mattingly. They're sure he still has that, but they did wonder about his command and the possibility that he might be tipping pitches.
"Just because they took some pretty good swings on some offspeed pitches today that aren't usual," Realmuto said. "But nothing glaring that we noticed in-game. For me, like I said, it's really just the command. The stuff still feels sharp. It's coming out of his hand good. It's just he's getting into some bad counts, and then throwing the ball too much in the middle of the plate."
Of the four homers Wheeler gave up on Monday night, two were hit off of his breaking pitches – Rodríguez crushed a first-inning sweeper, and Young lined a 1-1 splitter.
"Just uncharacteristic," Mattingly said (again via NBCSP). "You know, just talking to [pitching coach Caleb Cotham], obviously, I haven't been around [Wheeler] a whole lot, but command was probably the biggest thing we see. His stuff still seems good. Yeah, just command, and, you know, puts himself, puts us in trouble."
Which, after a while, does take a toll on confidence.
"All I can really throw for a strike is...a good quality strike is like a fastball right now," Wheeler said. "It's not even fully consistent. So when you're pitching kind of with one pitch, it's pretty hard up there, and you know, I just gotta get ahead of guys, getting into the count. A little below where I want to be with that, and it's just building that confidence back up to being able to throw all your pitches, and just really, just pitching.
"Instead of just maybe thinking a little bit more out there, and just messing around. Not really messing around, but you know, just getting back to where I need to be."
It's not a matter of health either, at least as far as Wheeler believes.
"That's why it's so frustrating right now, just because I'm on a rough stretch and I feel fine," the 36-year-old said. "You gotta really dig in. That's what I'm gonna do tomorrow. Sit down, talk, and try to get some stuff figured out."
"Tonight, they were taking really good swings," Wheeler added. "So first I'm gonna check off the box of 'Hey, am I doing something to where other teams are seeing it?' At this point, you gotta check off all the boxes. It's not where I want to be, so like I said, we'll sit down tomorrow and kind of dig in and see what's really going on."
And try to get Wheeler back on track to being his ace-level self again.
Because the Phillies need him, and while they haven't been used to him struggling for any prolonged period, they absolutely can't afford for it to suddenly become a norm now.
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