Zack Wheeler pitches Phillies to 1-0 lead in NLCS

When one of your aces takes the mound on Oct. 18, 2022, your offense doesn’t have to do much. One team east of the Mississippi found this out Tuesday and now has the advantage in their series of baseball games.

The team we speak of, of course, is the Philadelphia Phillies. Zack Wheeler took the mound and did even better than what an ace does, allowing no runs on one hit to the San Diego Padres. He also walked one, something no pitcher in this game topped.

Yu Darvish was also ace-ing for a team with no offense, but he did not have the fortune of pinning a “W” next to his name this time. He allowed three hits (shame!) and two runs (double shame!) while also walking one.

Juan Soto, acquired by San Diego because they wanted to spend some money and win some playoff games, did nothing but muddy the pristine San Diegan waters in this one. He went 0-for-3, and pissed off every one of his teammates by showing up in the clubhouse prior to the game with his stuffed animal collection.

Four relievers pitched in this game, and none of them gave up a hit. It turns out that relievers can pitch key scoreless innings on Oct 18, 2022. Bailey Falter wasn’t given the mound when Manny Machado was due up. Duuh. Nobody would ever decide to do that.

Anything else happen yesterday?