If they were willing to run Nola out there on 3 days rest, he'd be able to pitch 1, 4, 7. That's old school baseball. And they could still run Wheeler out on full rest \in his two starts. Ranger Suarez in game 3. You're stuck with Syndergaard for one start either way. The question is, do they trust Nola on short rest 2x enough that it's better than giving Suarez a second start? I question the strategy but otherwise I'm not sure why they would choose Nola in game 1 over their better guy in Wheeler. My other thought was that Wheeler may be better on the road (game 2 and 6 both being road starts) but he was much better at home this season. So that's not it. Nola's got more even splits.
nola is not going to be thrown out in game 4 on 3 days rest. Suarez has pitched very well has their 3rd starter. They're not skipping him. that would make no sense. It's not a question. Old school baseball is pitching 1 start in a desperate scenario on short rest. Not 3 starts consisting of 2 consecutive short rest starts, after a game 1 full start. being able to maximize wheeler their best pitcher means games 1/5 and all hands on deck game 7. Not wheeler game 2/6 and out for game 7 to pitch at all when he pitched literally the night before
They're not a stupid organization. There's a reason to it. And when I say old school, I am thinking guys like Curt Schilling in the 2001 series. Who definitely did start 2 games that series on short rest.
call it what you want, doesn't matter to me. It's not ideal not happening regardless of what you want to reference 20+ years ago
I mean if they're basing it off a game where the stros conceded/had nothing to play for and threw in all their backups after a couple ab's sure
Wheeler started game 5 on the 23rd Nola pitched game 2 on the 19th. They choosing to go: Nola on 8 days rest then Wheeler on 5. Rather than Wheeler on 4 days rest then Nola on 9.
Their primary goal is probably to get 1 game on the road. They might like their odds better of doing that with Wheeler vs Framber instead of putting Wheeler against Verlander and Nola against Framber. Reduce their chances of winning game 1 but increase it for game 2? Ultimately, unless they expect to win in 5 or less, they each get 2 starts so the order doesn't matter too much.
From a Phillies fan that posted this... ERA by days rest: 4 days: Wheeler: 3.64 Nola: 3.84 5 days: Wheeler: 2.57 Nola: 2.79
So based on Swish, the last four Umpires are batter friendly. Fewer SO, presumable tighter strikezone. https://swishanalytics.com/mlb/mlb-umpire-factors
