Zack Wheeler has had quite the year. 364 days ago, on September 23, 2025, Wheeler underwent thoracic outlet decompression surgery to remove a blood clot, thus beginning a long and sometimes frustrating year as Wheeler returned to Major League form.
Now, Wheeler joins the history books as the 96th pitcher in Major League Baseball history to record 2,000 career strikeouts.
Wheeler made his 27th start of the regular season against the Milwaukee Brewers Tuesday night. With 177 strikeouts on the year, his career total sat at 1,997 as he threw the first pitch to Garrett Mitchell. Five pitches into the ballgame, Wheeler caught Mitchell swinging on a slider outside of the zone, recording his first strikeout of the night.
Jackson Chourio was the next batter to step up for the Brewers. Chourio drove an 0-1 slider inches foul down the third base line. On the next pitch, Wheeler made him pay, punching him out on a sinker on the outside.
Recording the first two outs of the game via strikeout, it only felt proper that Wheeler would record his 2,000th strikeout as the final in an inning where he struck out the side. On a 1-2 pitch, Wheeler got Brice Turang swinging on a fastball to the high-and-inside corner, sealing the deal on his historic milestone.
Wheeler proceeded to strike out the side once more in the top of the second inning. Now with six strikeouts to start the ballgame, Wheeler matched a franchise record set by Brandon Duckworth in 2002.
Come the top of the third, Wheeler took the record all for his own. On a 2-2 count to Luis Lara, Wheeler pitched a curveball dropping out of the strike zone, marking his seventh-consecutive strikeout. A ground-out from Cooper Pratt ended the streak at seven. Within the span of 40 minutes, Wheeler went from 1,997 home runs to 2,004.
Wheeler returned to active duty for the Phillies on April 25, just under a month into the 2026 season. On that date, the Phillies were 10 games under .500 with an 8-18 record and had lost 10 straight contests.
While the path since may not have been straight, the Phillies have gone 78-52 since, a record beaten only by their current opponent, the Milwaukee Brewers, along with the Tampa Bay Rays and Los Angeles Dodgers.
In 15 starts across the first half of the season, Wheeler demonstrated his dominance on the mound could not be stopped by a blood clot. His 2.13 ERA would have been the third-best in the league had he made enough starts to qualify in the category. Despite the lack of starts, it felt like a surefire thing that Wheeler would be named to his fourth All-Star Game.
But then he wasn’t.
Wheeler was left off the original All-Star roster, stating he felted “disrespected” by Major League Baseball. When injury replacements were needed, Wheeler eventually got a call from the league. He declined.
Wheeler’s second half has been a troubled one, highlighted by a six-start August that found him with a 7.26 ERA, his worst mark on a month since June 2017.
The ace right-hander has turned the tide in September, however, allowing just two runs over 20.0 innings thus far on the month going into Tuesday’s start.
Wheeler was preceded on the list this season by former teammated Jacob deGrom, Kevin Gausman, Sonny Gray, and a current teammate: Aaron Nola. Nola hit his 2,000th strikeout on August 8 against the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Phillies’ duo marks just the second time in MLB history that a pair of teammates have reached 2,000 strikeouts in the same season. Tim Hudson and Jake Peavy were the first pair to do so in 2014 with the San Francisco Giants, just days apart from each other.
The Giants went on to win the World Series that season. Perhaps that is a good omen for the Phillies?
MORE: Alex McFarlane, Bryan Rincon named the 2026 Paul Owens award winners
