PHILADELPHIA — If it’s the eve of a Phillies postseason series, Zack Wheeler is usually on center stage — or at least at a podium for the customary news conference with the Game 1 starter.

Not this year.

Wheeler was nowhere to be seen Friday, 48 days after being diagnosed with a blood clot near his right shoulder, 10 after surgery to relieve a compressed vein between his collarbone and rib cage. He won’t pitch again this year, and maybe not until after next season begins.

But Wheeler did swing by the Phillies’ clubhouse Thursday for a check-in with the team’s medical staff. And before leaving, he made sure to check in with his stand-in.

“He asked me if I was ready,“ Cristopher Sánchez said through a team interpreter.

The answer?

“Of course I am,” Sánchez said.

Actually, it might not be possible to be more ready than Sánchez. He was a Cy Young Award candidate before the Phillies lost Wheeler for the season and has been even better since, posting a 2.63 ERA in eight starts.

Sánchez finished the regular season with 202 innings and 212 strikeouts, both career-highs. He was unbeatable at home (6-0, 1.94 ERA). And his change-up generated more swings and misses (269) than any off-speed pitch in the sport.

Say this, then, for the Dodgers in Game 1 of the National League Divisional Series at 6:38 p.m. Saturday in Citizens Bank Park: Good luck.

But that only scratches the surface of Sánchez, who has undergone a drastic transformation from a project to an ace since the Phillies acquired him from the Rays in a November 2019 trade that scarcely merited a headline at the time.

Consider this: Sánchez’s major league debut came in the eighth inning on June 6, 2021 — a date that’s tattooed on his right wrist — at home against the Nationals and was notable for one reason. Three pitches into an at-bat against Trea Turner, a support rope behind home plate gave way and the protective netting collapsed onto the field.

When play resumed 20 minutes later, Sánchez struck out Turner, who recalled coming away with this impression:

“I want to say he was 94, 95, maybe a 96 mixed in there,” Turner said earlier in the season. “Funky [arm] slot. Tall. Good sinker, good change-up.”

And now, four years later?

“Just watching him evolve more from that day to just throwing strikes,” said Turner, whose vantage point has shifted to shortstop behind Sánchez. “He seems more poised and more in control of himself.”

On the mound, Sánchez harnessed his command. Whereas he was once “all over the place,” as manager Rob Thomson puts it, he’s now an extreme strike-thrower. His first 21 pitches in the regular-season finale against the Twins were strikes.

But teammates and coaches have seen Sánchez grow in another area, too.

“He just continues to get more and more confident and believe in himself,” catcher J.T. Realmuto said. “His stuff has always been really good. But I think his command over the last couple of years has also gotten better, and that, in turn, has given him even more confidence.”

It comes through in various ways. Take, for instance, pre-start meetings. Wheeler tends to be relaxed, almost zoned-out in those sessions; Aaron Nola likes to talk through potential situations that may arise.

“[Sánchez] goes into the meeting not necessarily worrying about what the opposing team does well. He just talks about himself and how he wants to attack and what works for him,” Realmuto said. “And that’s something that’s really cool to see the last few years is him grow in that way. He has like an aura of confidence about him.”

Pitching coach Caleb Cotham sees it in Sánchez’s between-starts bullpen sessions.

“The assertiveness, the consistency,” Cotham said earlier in the season, “just hearing him talk through a pen and talk to his catcher, and hearing him think through something, how clean and clear it is in his head on what he wants to do. That, to me, is one of the biggest jumps he’s made.

“And there’s also this relaxation, there’s this ‘dude’ quality about him this year that’s like, ‘I can have some fun.’ There’s a little bit more joy.”

Sánchez experienced the postseason for the first time in 2023. He was the Phillies’ No. 4 starter then, and after not pitching in the divisional round, he faced only 11 batters in 2 1/3 innings of Game 4 of the NL Championship Series in Arizona.

Last year, Sánchez got the nod for Game 2 of the division series against the Mets. He allowed two runs in five innings before yielding to the bullpen in an eventual 7-6 series-tying victory on Nick Castellanos’ walk-off single.

But the circumstances are different now. Wheeler is out; Nola struggled through ankle and rib injuries in the worst season of his career. The defending World Series champs will put Shohei Ohtani, only the best player on the planet, on the mound for Game 1.

And Sánchez is the undisputed leader of a rotation that almost certainly will feature three lefty starters (also, Ranger Suárez and Jesús Luzardo) against the Dodgers.

When Sánchez signed a four-year, $22.5 million extension with the Phillies midway through last season, he cited Wheeler as his favorite pitcher. The Phillies were all happy to see Wheeler on Thursday. Sánchez talked with him for a while.

“He shared that he was excited for myself,” Sánchez said, “and for everything that’s been going on with my career recently.”

It was the eve of Game 1 of a playoff series, and Sánchez was on center stage, ready for his close-up.

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