Gabe Kapler has referred to Aaron Nola time and again this season as a top-10 pitcher in baseball. At this point, top-10 is probably conservative.
Nola has been more like a top-5 pitcher in the majors this season based on his across-the-board dominance.
Accordingly, it fits that Nola's Cy Young odds have surged and he's now behind only three NL pitchers, per Bovada:
• Max Scherzer (7/5)
• Jacob deGrom (5/1)
• Clayton Kershaw (15/2)
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• Aaron Nola (10/1)
A month ago today, Nola's Cy Young odds were 25/1.
In a dozen starts this season, Nola is 7-2 with a 2.18 ERA, a 0.93 WHIP, a .201 opponents' batting average and just four home runs allowed in 78⅓ innings. He's struck out nearly a batter per inning and walked one every 4½ innings.
Nola has also consistently gone deep into games, which could factor into end-of-season voting if he has numbers similar to Kershaw and deGrom, who both missed time.
Right now, Nola is on pace to pitch 234 innings.
Last night was yet another example of his evolution and dominance. Nola is in a place where he can command all four of his pitches in any count and use any one of them as a weapon. Two strikes on a lefty? Here comes the low-and-away changeup or two-seamer that starts at your hip and ends over the inside corner. The curveball has been phenomenal as usual. Against the Dodgers, 17 of the 30 hooks Nola threw were called or swinging strikes.
And it's not as if Nola has beaten up on bad teams - seven of his 12 starts have been against teams over .500.
In half of these 12 starts, Nola has pitched at least six innings and allowed one or no runs. The only pitcher in the majors with more such games this season is AL Cy Young favorite Justin Verlander.
