PHILADELPHIA — There were signs that Aaron Nola sensed the sand running through the hourglass, the clock ticking toward zero guaranteed starts remaining in a Philadelphia Phillies uniform.
The longest-tenured player on the defending National League champions, Nola is set to hit free agency for the first time whenever the Phillies' 2023 campaign comes to an end. The nine-year veteran uncharacteristically tipped his cap to the Citizens Bank Park crowd while departing his final regular-season start Sept. 26 — in what eventually became the Phillies' clinching victory.
“I just honestly try to soak it in as much as possible and leave it all out there on the field,” Nola said. “I love pitching here, love pitching in front of this crowd, this stadium.”It actually wasn’t a good season for Nola, even if you’d never know it from his postseason. “The only thing I'm really focused on is trying to win for this team and get wins because I want to get back to where we were last year because to me, that's the ultimate goal,” he told Yahoo Sports then. “Winning is a lot better than personal success for me.”
Out the window indeed. Nola and Phillies manager Rob Thomson explained that over his final few starts of the regular season, Nola made an adjustment to the direction of his stride toward the plate that helped him rediscover his usual form, the long-proven form that will make him one of the offseason’s most sought-after free agents — if anyone can pry him away from Philadelphia.
“He's done a good job of mixing his pitches, you know, using both fastballs to righties and lefties, using both sides of the plate,” Realmuto said. “He's really just being unpredictable and getting ahead of guys and being able to put them away when he is ahead.”
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