NL WILD CARD SERIES: MARLINS VS PHILLIES

October 3, 2023

Aaron Nola

Citizens Bank Park

Philadelphia Phillies

Pregame Press Conference

Q. Last two have been really good for you, obviously, and just want to know if there's been like a common theme between the last two that you think will help you carry this thing through October?

AARON NOLA: Those are in the past, but I felt good those past two outings. Hopefully I can keep this going tomorrow. I'm just excited for this series. It's not really a new team we're facing. We see them a lot. They've seen our pitching staff a good bit. They're a good squad.

It's going to be a hard fought battle, and we're ready to compete against them. Our guy today, he's going to go out there and do everything we can, like he has done all year for us today. Start the series off good.

It's an exciting time to be here in the postseason again.

Q. Talk about the opponent being familiar with the situation. At this time last year, we were talking about ending the drought and first home playoff game. Now that you know what all that's going to be, how does it compare to last year for you guys?

AARON NOLA: We kind of know what to expect, especially in our home ballpark. For a lot of us in the clubhouse, it was our first postseason experience. So it was all new to us. We have that experience now, and we know what to expect in game, before the game, after the game, stuff like that.

I'm just happy for the young guys who get to experience it, and some of the really young guys are first years up here. One guy in particular, for a couple days. So that doesn't happen usually. Sometimes you've got to wait, like several of us did last year.

It's a fun time, and I'm excited to see their emotions and their comments on tonight.

Q. Speaking of Ryan, have you kind of joked around with him, like, hey, do you realize how long it took me to finally get in the postseason?

AARON NOLA: Yeah. He told me J.T. got on him a little bit after we clinched the other night. He said he had to wait eight years, and Ryan had to wait like three days.

It's really cool for him, a guy that was in college last year and just kind of rolled through our Minor League system, and he's up now. It's pretty special. You don't really hear that too often. Not many guys get to experience that.

Q. And you're a guy that can throw a breaking ball for a strike with regularity, and he kind of can do the same thing. Can you speak to maybe your impressions of his sweeper/slider and what you like?

AARON NOLA: It's electric. Everybody knows that now. He also has an electric fastball. I hope he starts to use that a little bit more. It's 97 to almost 100 with some sink to it. He's got a lot of talent. He's going to be really good.

When he debuted for us the other night, it almost looked like he's been here for five years. He's got a lot of confidence in his head, which is awesome, just perfect for our bullpen.

Q. You mentioned familiarity with the other team. When the stakes are raised like this, do you approach it any differently as far as for preparation as you would a regular season game, or do you kind of look at it the same way as you would facing the Marlins in August, for example?

AARON NOLA: Kind of the same way, the same way. I've faced them quite a few times. They know me. I know them. For me it's all about executing what I need to execute at the right times.

That's all I'm going to focus on, try to get ahead of the guys and try to get early outs. Just compete against them and be aggressive.

Q. How do you stay grounded getting ready for a game like this, and when you're out there?

AARON NOLA: A little bit easier since I kind of experienced it last year. I know what to expect a little bit more. But I'm just going to treat it like another game because it is another game. It's just later on in the season, a certain amount of teams are in the postseason.

Obviously it's a little bit bigger stakes than a game during the year, but it's still another game. Still the same game. I've still got to go out and make my pitches.

Q. Having been around Wheeler now for four years, just what stuck out to you watching him up close or maybe behind the scenes that fans don't get to see all the time?

AARON NOLA: He's pretty much the same guy as you see on the mound, as he is off the field. But just with a little bit more fire when he's competing out there.

He's super calm and very chill, doesn't let anything get under him or get to him. You don't really know if things are going bad or going good just by the way he acts, if you just look at him, which is what makes him so good in my opinion. He can strike out 15 or he can give up 5 runs. It doesn't really matter to him after the fact. He knows what he has to do leading up to his next start, and he's got a quick memory so he forgets really quick.

I think that's what really makes him good. To me, playing with him in 2020 for the first year, he's one of the first guys that I played with who can throw almost 100 -- 98 to 100 consistently and command the baseball. You see guys nowadays that throw really hard and they don't command it as well. He has four, five elite pitches that he can command. That's what makes him so good.

Q. When you take the mound tomorrow, it will be eight days since the last time that you pitched. What has kind of been your routine to get ready for the postseason with a little bit of extra time?

AARON NOLA: I threw two bullpens this go round. I threw a little bit more than I usually do just to stay ready. I didn't want too much time off because eight days is kind of a long time.

I feel ready. My body feels healthy. I feel like I got some good work in this week.

Q. This season when you've been asked about your contract situation, every time you've said you're not thinking about it. How are you able to not think about it and just focus on staying in the moment?

AARON NOLA: I just want to win for this team. I want to go out and do good and try to give the team the best chance to win. That's kind of what I've focused on all year.

Tomorrow that's what I'm going to be focus on too, try to have a good start and put the guys in the best chance to win. That's what it's all about right now. We want to get back to where we were last year and a little bit more. That's everybody's goal right now.

For me it's kind of easy to stay focused on that because this is what I've always trained for. It's what everybody in that clubhouse has trained for, to get to this point, to get to the postseason and hopefully have a good run.