Saying that someone is having a quiet season is not typically taken as a compliment. Perhaps this isn’t quite so for pitchers, for whom a lack of attention can indicate that they’re quietly taking care of business, not giving their opponents much to celebrate or their own team’s fans much reason to reach for the antacids. Still, while quiet efficiency is perfectly acceptable for most starters, you’d like your aces to give you something to write home about. Zack Wheeler usually does.
But not so this season. Wheeler currently has a solid but unspectacular ERA of 3.88, and remains in a sort of no man’s land: not pitching poorly by any measure, but not always throwing the gems that would draw accolades (although his last outing, a 7-inning, 1-run performance against the Guardians, looked like the Wheeler we’re used to).