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PHILADELPHIA — Zack Wheeler is having arguably the best season of his decade-long career and he’s doing it for a Phillies team that is looking to make its third straight postseason appearance.
Asked if a potential playoff matchup against his former team would make October even sweeter, Wheeler said his focus was elsewhere — and not on the Mets.
“Our ultimate goal is just to win,’’ Wheeler said Friday before the Mets’ 11-3 blowout win over the Phillies in the series opener at Citizens Bank Park. “It doesn’t matter who we’re up against.”
Wheeler spent the first six years of his major league career with the Mets and pitched well in 2018 and ’19 before he left for Philadelphia as a free agent without an offer from his old team.
The decision has worked out well for Wheeler and the Phillies, so the 34-year-old isn’t tempted to look back.
“There’s a lot of turnover there,” Wheeler said of the Mets, who have gone through several regime changes since he left. “There’s not a lot of the same guys there anymore.”
That’s part of the reason the right-hander doesn’t have any ill will toward his former team
“I never held a grudge or anything like that,” Wheeler said. “Baseball is a business. I’ve learned that over the years, especially after I got traded [from the Giants to the Mets in the Carlos Beltran deal] in 2011.”
For now, Wheeler and the Phillies are looking at winning their first division title since 2011 in an effort to get into the best position possible in the postseason.
“It’s tough for teams to play here, so of course you want to play at home, but we’ll play anywhere,’’ Wheeler said. “We just want to keep winning.”
The Mets will miss Wheeler this series, a good thing for them, as Wheeler is 5-1 with a 1.76 ERA in his last eight starts as he tries to make a push to challenge Atlanta’s Chris Sale for the NL Cy Young award.
