Zack Wheeler has continued to build his case for the first Cy Young Award of his career. After falling short as the runner-up to Corbin Burnes in 2021 and Chris Sale in 2024, the Philadelphia Phillies’ ace authored the best month of his career in June 2025.
Recapping Zack Wheeler’s remarkable month
Wheeler posted a 0.58 ERA for the month across five starts, striking out 42 and walking just seven across 31 innings of work, surrendering only two earned runs the entire month. He hasn’t allowed an earned run since the fifth inning of his start on June 15 against the Blue Jays, a 20-inning streak. In fact, looking back to May 11, Wheeler has allowed an earned run in only three of his last nine starts.
That feat has lowered his year-to-date ERA from 3.35 to 2.27, putting him just 24 points above National League Cy Young front-runner Paul Skenes. If the pair of superstar pitchers end the season as they are currently rated, it’s not impossible to see Wheeler get the nod over a slightly better counterpart. After all, Sale likely picked up several votes in 2024 due to his career longevity.
Of course, Wheeler can only compete against the offenses in front of him, and in June, no one came close to his production. His .58 ERA was less than half that of the next best NL pitcher—you might have heard of him—Ranger Suárez, who had a 1.30 ERA over 41.2 innings. The Phillies’ third ace, Christopher Sanchez, trailed close behind at fourth place for NL ERA leaders in June at 1.85.
As a unit, Phillies starters in the month of June had a 2.35 ERA, almost a full run better than the second-best MLB team, the Houston Astros, who had a 3.09 ERA.
Wheeler is on pace for the best season of his career, leading a special group. Furthermore, this June was the best month of his career. It’s followed by a 1.13 ERA in August 2018 for the New York Mets across 40 innings.
While Wheeler’s month is certainly the best any pitcher on the current staff has thrown this year, it also stacks up well against the last decade of great months by Philadelphia pitchers.
Of course, the aforementioned job by Suárez last month needs to be mentioned, but it’s arguably only the third-best month of his career. In April 2024, he posted a 0.75 ERA over 36 innings, and in June 2023, he had a 1.08 ERA over 33.1 innings.
Across 11 seasons for the Phillies, even Aaron Nola hasn’t come particularly close to matching Wheeler’s recent performance. His best month was August 2018, when he held hitters to just four earned runs for a 1.08 ERA over 34 innings.
Oddly enough, Vince Velasquez came close to authoring a Wheeler-level month in 2018. His devastating stuff rarely matched up with the command necessary to wield it, but in July 2018, his 0.95 ERA was the best on the squad, though it was backed up by only 19 innings of work.
However, the next best-pitched month of the last decade of Phillies baseball may have been made by none other than Jake Arrieta. In the second month of his disastrous contract in Philadelphia, Arrieta held batters to only three earned runs for a 0.90 ERA over 30 innings. His 20 strikeouts and nine walks, though, may have been an indicator of things to come.
To truly find a month for any Phillies’ pitcher as dominant as Wheeler’s June, one has to look all the way back to Cliff Lee’s August 2011, when he posted a 0.45 ERA over 39.2 IP. Nevertheless, he is outdid himself just two months earlier with a 0.21 ERA in June over 42 innings that included three complete game shutouts.
It’s easy to take what Wheeler did last month for granted when the Phillies’ starting staff looks the way it does in 2025. But if the franchise’s track record is anything to go by, the rarified air Wheeler pitched himself into is unlikely to be matched for a long time.
Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
