Was this the best day ever by 2 MLB brothers?
It’s been good to be a Nola in the 2022 postseason.
Brothers Aaron and Austin Nola have each played major roles in the success of their clubs so far this October, with the former not having given up an earned run in two postseason starts for the Phillies and the latter hitting .389 with three doubles for the Padres. Thanks in large part to the Nola brothers, the Phillies and Padres are each one victory away from advancing to the League Championship Series.
On Friday, the Nolas had the arguably the best single postseason day of any brothers who played in playoff games on the same day in AL/NL history. Aaron gave up just one unearned run on five hits over 6-plus innings while walking two and striking out six in Philadelphia’s 9-1 victory over the Braves in NLDS Game 3 at Citizens Bank Park. That came after a brilliant performance in his first career postseason appearance last Saturday, when he blanked the Cardinals for 6 2/3 innings in St. Louis.
On Friday night, Austin went 2-for-3 with a single, a double and a walk in the Padres’ 2-1 win over the Dodgers in NLDS Game 3 at Petco Park.
Aaron and Austin’s parents, A.J. and Stacie Nola, have had quite a week trying to catch as much of each son’s great postseason moments as possible, flying across the country in the process. Austin said earlier this week that his mom and dad were at Citi Field for the Padres’ NL Wild Card Series opener against the Mets on Oct. 7, when he hit a ground-rule double off Max Scherzer ahead of a Jurickson Profar three-run homer in the fifth inning.
Austin said that early the next morning, his parents hopped on a plane to get to St. Louis, where Aaron was starting Game 2 of the Phillies’ Wild Card Series against the Cardinals. Then on Friday, A.J. and Stacie were in the stands at Citizens Bank Park to see Aaron continue his masterful pitching against Atlanta in Game 3 of the NLDS.
It’s been hard for Aaron and Austin to talk on the phone with the busy schedule the past week, but they’re nevertheless keeping track of one another.
“We were playing at the same time [last Saturday],” Austin said. “Looking up at the scoreboard, you could see that it was 2-0 all the way into the 8th [in Aaron’s start against the Cardinals]. I'm like, man, I wonder if he has a complete game going, but I didn't look any further into it.”
After Austin and the Padres beat the Dodgers in San Diego on Friday night, he said he caught some of Aaron's start before taking the field at Petco Park.
"I watched a little bit of the game," Austin said. "I saw what he did. He had a great outing. Atlanta is a tough team. They’re a really tough team. They make it tough on him. He’s had to pitch against them a lot. I know sometimes it looms over him, having to face a team so many times and seeing his pitches so many times. I’m glad to see him get a win."
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, prior to the Nola brothers on Friday, there had been three pairs of brothers to appear for the winning team in two different playoff games on the same day: Roberto (Orioles) and Sandy (Cleveland) Alomar on Oct. 2 and Oct. 5 in 1997, J.D. (Red Sox) and Stephen (D-backs) Drew on Oct. 3, 2007, and Jose (Rays) and Yadier (Cardinals) Molina on Oct. 7, 2013.
The only potential challenger to the Nolas for finest postseason day for siblings is the performance of the Alomars on Oct. 5, 1997 -- on that day, Sandy belted a game-tying homer off legendary Yankees closer Mariano Rivera in the eighth inning of Game 4 of the ALDS in Cleveland, while Roberto had a pinch-hit single in the Orioles’ Game 4 victory over the Mariners in Baltimore that sent them to the ALCS.
Speaking of the LCS, the Nola family could all be together again soon -- and make the travel itinerary much simpler -- if the Phillies and Padres each win one more game this weekend.
“It would probably drive my parents absolutely nuts and the nerves and stress would be out of the roof,” Austin said, laughing. “I don't know if I want to do that to their lives. I don't want to take that many years off their life having to deal with that.
“It would be cool, but we have to take care of business here.”