PHILADELPHIA — Everybody’s different on game day.
Phillies ace Zack Wheeler is so relaxed in pregame meetings that J.T. Realmuto has wondered if he might doze off. Aaron Nola is vocal. Well, as vocal as the soft-spoken Louisianan can be. But if he has an opinion, he said he will share it. Jesús Luzardo is wildly superstitious, from his coffee order in the morning to the glasses he wears to the exact time he steps onto the field to begin his pregame warmups.
“Because then they’ll try to imitate that,” Sánchez said smiling on Friday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park.
Who’s “they”? Who knows? But whatever Sánchez has been doing the past few years has been working. He will start Game 1 of the NL Division Series on Saturday night against the Dodgers and Shohei Ohtani.
It is a spot that Wheeler would have occupied had he not needed season-ending surgery following a blood clot near his right shoulder in August. But Sánchez not only stepped up in Wheeler’s absence, he might finish second for NL Cy Young behind Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes.
“He has like an aura of confidence about him,” Realmuto said.
Sánchez went 13-5 with a 2.50 ERA in 32 starts this season. He struck out a career-high 212 batters in a career-high 202 innings. He led all pitchers in bWAR (8.0). He finished third in fWAR (6.4), behind Detroit’s Tarik Skubal (6.6) and Skenes (6.5).
“I think it’s experience,” Sánchez said about his growth and confidence as a pitcher. “Experience is a beautiful thing that this game gives you. And throughout the years you gain so much. And just learning from experience and from the people that you have around you.”
This will be just the third postseason start of Sánchez’s career. He started Game 4 of the 2023 NLCS against Arizona. He started Game 2 of the 2024 NLDS against the Mets.
Every postseason start is important, of course. Sánchez needed to pitch well in Game 2 last year to avoid the Phillies falling into a 2-0 hole against the Mets.
But this start against the Dodgers is huge.
The Phillies are built to win the World Series this year. And, in many ways, they must. Kyle Schwarber, Realmuto, Ranger Suárez and others will be free agents following the season.
Nothing is guaranteed beyond this year.
So the Phillies need a good effort from Sánchez, who is 2-0 with a 4.01 ERA in four career starts against the Dodgers.
“I think pressure is always going to be there,” he said. “So you need to handle it, just take it in, and not think too much about it. I think the game will handle itself once you’re out there performing.”
Sánchez’s first pitch on Saturday is scheduled for 6:38 p.m. ET. Before that, he will have his pregame meeting to discuss how he plans to attack the Dodgers.
“Sanchy, he’s definitely relaxed,” Realmuto said. “Maybe not quite as relaxed as Wheels is. … He goes into the meeting not necessarily worrying about what the opposing team does well. He just talks about himself and how he wants to attack and what works for him. And that’s something I think is really cool to see the last few years him grow in that way. He’s just has so much confidence in what he does that he’s not too worried about the opposing team.”
Sánchez and Wheeler are alike in that regard.
The co-aces spoke on Thursday.
“We talked about a lot of things,” Sánchez said “He was really excited. He shared that he was excited for myself and for everything that’s been going on with my career recently. He asked me if I was ready. I said, of course I am.”
