He’s baseball’s top big-game pitcher at the peak of his powers. Is a Cy Young Award next for Zack Wheeler?

In December 2020, a report circulated about the Phillies being open to trading Zack Wheeler to help offset debts incurred during the pandemic-shortened season.

Hogwash, John Middleton insisted.

“If they offered me Babe Ruth,” Middleton told ESPN.com at the time, “I wouldn’t trade [Wheeler].”

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How’s that for a denial? Also, an all-time quote from the quotable Phillies owner.

But here’s what it was not: an overstatement.

Because Wheeler’s just-completed five-year, $118 million contract is the best free-agent deal in Phillies history. Since 2020, he leads all pitchers in quality starts (90) and ranks second in innings (829⅓) and sixth in ERA (2.94), strikeouts (899), and WHIP (1.03). He also has the most wins above replacement, 24.7 by Fangraphs' calculation, which equates to a $197.5 million value. He was paid $104.5 million, adjusted for prorated 2020 salary.

None of that includes October, when Wheeler (2.23 ERA in 11 postseason starts) reminds everyone that he’s baseball‘s best big-game pitcher. In tossing seven scoreless innings in Game 1 of the Phillies’ ill-fated division series against the Mets last month, he threw the most pitches (111) and posted the best game score (80) of any starter in the 2024 playoffs.

Say this for Wheeler, regardless of whether his name gets called at 6 p.m. Wednesday when the Cy Young Award is presented: At age 34, he’s at the peak of his powers. And most managers across the sport would choose Wheeler to start one game for all the marbles.

“He’s nasty,” the Mets’ Carlos Mendoza said. “When you’re throwing 98 and locating at the top of the zone, in and out, and then the sweeper, the split, I mean, unbelievable. He was pretty much unhittable [in Game 1]. And that’s who he is.”

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In September, Brewers manager Pat Murphy dubbed the Phillies’ ace “Rocket Wheeler,” a nod to preeminent former power pitcher Roger Clemens. Asked how best to handle Wheeler, Murphy joked, “Hope he cramps.”

And if you’re wondering how long the Phillies’ proverbial window will remain open to win the World Series with their existing core, look only at Wheeler’s status. In March, he agreed to a three-year, $126 million extension that will keep him around through 2027.

That, then, is the duration of this particular window, even if 21-year-old phenom Andrew Painter really turns out to be an ace-in-waiting.

It’s also why every year that passes without a parade down Broad Street feels like such a wasted opportunity.

Because the last great Phillies righty had a 2.80 ERA — 50% better than league average, based on ERA+ — and won one Cy Young with two other runner-up finishes from age 30 to 34.

Then injuries zapped Roy Halladay’s superpowers at 35.

Halladay won the Cy Young in 2010, was the runner-up in 2011, strained his shoulder in 2012, and had surgery in 2013. He made only 30 starts after his 35th birthday and retired at age 36, evidence that even the best pitchers on the planet are no match for Father Time.

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Don’t tell Wheeler, the pitching Benjamin Button. After missing two seasons early in his career while recovering from Tommy John elbow surgery, he returned and was 7% better than league average, based on ERA+, in his age 28 and 29 seasons with the Mets. He has been 42% better than league average with the Phillies, including 36% over the last two years at age 33 and 34.

But although he’s been better with age, Wheeler maintains he doesn’t want to pitch until he’s “old old,” as he put it in March, which is to say into his 40s, à la Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer.

And Wheeler has a plan to exit on his terms.

“He said, ‘I want to put the foot down on the accelerator and try to go get three rings. I don’t want to hold anything back,’” agent B.B. Abbott said. ”I really think you’ll see him want to go over 200 innings every year of this [extension] and leave it on the field. He’s that guy that, I do not think you’re going to rip the jersey off his back. He wants to see his kids grow up.”

Wheeler’s recent evolution suggests he may have three more elite seasons.

He opened 2023 by adding a sweeper, the slider variant that has gained popularity in the last few years. It was his third-most frequently used pitch this past season. This year, he developed a splitter to neutralize left-handed hitters. He held lefties to a .200 average with his new toy and .222 overall, compared to a .261 mark without it in 2023.

“If you keep the same bag of tools all the time, they’re going to know what you throw in certain counts a lot or what you start guys out with, what you finish them with,” said Wheeler, who still leads with a blazing heater. “You just start mixing stuff up as you go to try to change it up, stay fresh and new.”

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The Phillies wagered $42 million per year that Wheeler will keep dominating. It’s the highest annual salary in team history and fourth-highest ever for a pitcher after Scherzer, Verlander, and Shohei Ohtani.

“I think his delivery has gotten better; it’s gotten more connected,” said pitching coach Caleb Cotham. “There’s better timing. He’s a long, loose guy that had a lot of body parts moving a lot of different directions, which helps you throw really hard. But he’s figured out ways to stay tight to throw breaking balls a little safer, a little more correct.”

For the second time in four years, Wheeler is a Cy Young finalist. In 2021, he finished second to Corbin Burnes, falling two votes shy despite throwing 46⅓ more innings. It still stings.

In spring training, Wheeler admitted the Cy Young was a goal, then backed it up with a career-best 2.57 ERA. He went at least six innings and allowed no more than two runs in his final 11 starts, the longest such streak by a Phillies pitcher since 1893, according to MLB researcher Sarah Langs.

Yet Braves lefty Chris Sale is the presumptive Cy Young favorite, based on both a stellar season and the feel-good narrative about his return to ace-hood at age 35 after four injury-marred seasons.

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(Pirates rookie sensation Paul Skenes is also a finalist.)

But there wasn’t much daylight between Sale and Wheeler. While Sale led the National League in wins, ERA, and strikeouts — the “pitching triple crown” — Wheeler made three more starts and worked 22⅓ more innings.

“He’s a Cy Young, man,” Bryce Harper said of Wheeler late in the season. “I don’t think anybody in baseball is better than him. The people down in Atlanta probably think the same thing about [Sale]. But I thought [Wheeler] got robbed of it three years ago. I believe he earned it this year.”

If Wheeler doesn’t win, it will remain on his bucket list, just below the World Series trophy that has eluded the Phillies since 2008.

And there isn’t a more important player to that pursuit.

“You come into the season and that’s one of your personal goals — to win [the Cy Young],“ Wheeler said. ”I don’t think there’s anything wrong with personal goals. Because if you set those and you do well and you accomplish them or come even close to it, you’re helping the team a lot. That’s all I try to do every year — try to be the best I possibly can. I know that’ll help the team.”