{"id":537065,"date":"2026-01-25T02:45:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T02:45:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/537065\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T02:45:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T02:45:18","slug":"aaron-nola-to-compete-for-team-italy-in-world-baseball-classic-before-2026-mlb-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/537065\/","title":{"rendered":"Aaron Nola to Compete for Team Italy in World Baseball Classic Before 2026 MLB Season"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Philadelphia Phillies<\/a> have managed to retain many of their key pieces in MLB<\/a> free agency, and the roster will head into the 2026 season with a familiar core and renewed expectations of finally breaking through.<\/p>\n

Despite consistent regular-season success, including back-to-back National League East titles, the Phillies have repeatedly struggled to advance past the divisional round of the postseason since 2024.<\/p>\n

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If they hope to push further in 2026, right-handed starter Aaron Nola will need to deliver more than he did a year ago, and the organization is banking on the idea that his 2025 performance was an outlier.<\/p>\n

The 32-year-old veteran made just 17 starts, finishing with a career-worst 6.01 ERA, a 5\u201310 record and 97 strikeouts.<\/p>\n

Those numbers fell well short of the standard he has set throughout his career, and the Phillies will need a return to form, especially considering he has five years remaining on his seven-year, $172 million contract.<\/p>\n

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\"Philadelphia<\/p>\n

Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola (27)\u00a9 Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

(\u00a9 Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

In the midst of preparing for the new season, Nola made headlines by announcing he will compete for Team Italy in the World Baseball Classic this March.<\/p>\n

The Phillies confirmed his decision this week. \u201cNols will be suiting up for Team Italy at the WBC! \ud83e\udd0c,\u201d the team wrote on X.<\/p>\n

It will be his first time representing Italy, a nod to his family heritage, and the tournament will give him an opportunity to refine his command and timing against elite international competition before rejoining the club for Opening Day.<\/p>\n

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The added workload could benefit Nola heading into a season where he hopes to move past last year\u2019s struggles.<\/p>\n

Aaron Nola Aims to Rebound After a Difficult 2025<\/p>\n

Nola first missed time last season with a sprained right ankle in May, an injury that later developed into a more serious stress fracture in his right rib and kept him out for nearly four months.<\/p>\n

Even when he was available, he struggled to find his rhythm and ultimately could not be relied upon in October. That downturn marked a shift from the consistency he has delivered throughout his 11-year career in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

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He has been a one-time All-Star, earned three top-10 finishes in National League Cy Young voting and established himself as one of the sport\u2019s most durable arms.<\/p>\n

Until last season, he had logged four straight years with at least 30 starts, a workload that underscored how central he has been to the Phillies\u2019 rotation.<\/p>\n

With a healthy offseason and a fresh opportunity on the international stage, the Phillies believe Nola can reestablish himself as the reliable anchor their rotation has long depended on.<\/p>\n

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Related: Phillies Lose Player After J.T. Realmuto’s MLB Free Agency Decision<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Athlon Sports<\/a> on Jan 24, 2026, where it first appeared in the MLB<\/a> section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Philadelphia Phillies have managed to retain many of their key pieces in MLB free agency, and the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":537066,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2397],"tags":[40216,1206,5,4,9258,144,25,4216,40,66124,22502],"class_list":["post-537065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia-phillies","tag-2026-season","tag-aaron-nola","tag-baseball","tag-mlb","tag-national-league-east","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-phillies","tag-philadelphiaphillies","tag-phillies","tag-team-italy","tag-the-phillies"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115953450051337048","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=537065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/537066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=537065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=537065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=537065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}