Rob Thomson on his Game 3 pitching plan: ‘I’d regret having either of those guys not pitch in this series.’

LOS ANGELES — There’s an alternate universe in which the Phillies put the ball in Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s right hand here Wednesday night instead of facing him.

Surely they tried.

Two years ago, seven team officials boarded owner John Middleton’s jet and flew to Southern California to talk Yamamoto into being the first player from Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball to sign with the Phillies. Bryce Harper even recorded a recruiting video that highlighted the presentation.

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“We pushed hard with Yamamoto,” Middleton recalled. “The number he walked away from is just mind-boggling to me. Literally, I’ve never heard of a player walking away from the kind of money that he walked away from. But he did.”

Yamamoto, like many of the best players from his country, had eyes for only one team. He wanted to play with Shohei Ohtani, who signed with the Dodgers a few weeks earlier. So, with a $300-plus-million guarantee from the Phillies, Yamamoto took the Dodgers’ 12-year, $325 million offer.

Oh well.

No matter how seriously they went after Yamamoto, the Phillies knew it was a long shot. It was a good thing, then, that they struck early in that offseason to re-sign Aaron Nola.

There were times this season when the wisdom of Nola’s seven-year, $172 million contract was called into question. The 32-year-old righty got injured for the first time in eight seasons and had the worst year of his 10-year major league career.

(Meanwhile, Yamamoto, 27, posted a 2.49 ERA in his second major league season and will get down-ballot Cy Young Award votes.)

But now, because the baseball gods have a sense of humor, the Phillies will trust Nola with helping to extend their season in Game 3 of the National League Division Series — against Yamamoto, of all pitchers, at Dodger Stadium.

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“It’s humbling, for sure,” said Nola, a postseason stalwart for the Phillies since 2022 but not guaranteed of starting in this series when it began last week. “I’m going to go out and compete as best as I can and throw the ball as best as I can and put the guys in the best position to win a baseball game.”

OK, let’s pause here and dive into Rob Thomson’s surprise decision to go with Nola when almost everyone expected Ranger Suárez to start Game 3.

Suárez was available out of the bullpen in the series’ first two games — 5-3 and 4-3 losses in Citizens Bank Park — but didn’t pitch. Critics second-guessed Thomson for not using Suárez. But Cristopher Sánchez and Jesús Luzardo pitched into the sixth and seventh innings, respectively. There wasn’t an obvious spot for Suárez.

What about starting Game 3, then?

Thomson figures he will need both Suárez and Nola in the race to get 27 outs in Game 3 and noted that their numbers against the Dodgers’ left-handed hitters (Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, and Max Muncy) are similar. Nola has never pitched in relief; Suárez has, including getting the pennant-clinching out in 2022.

“You’re going to see Ranger [Wednesday],” Thomson said. “I would be shocked if you don’t see Ranger [Wednesday].”

Maybe early in the game, too. Nola allowed 15 first-inning runs in 17 regular-season starts for a 7.94 ERA. Ohtani and Mookie Betts — the Dodgers’ best hitters — are 2-for-18 in the series, but the Phillies don’t want to wake them up with Nola, either.

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“Well, Nola’s last start was phenomenal,” Thomson said. “That’s the Nola we’ve seen, so I’m banking that we’re going to get that.”

Indeed, Nola allowed one run on two hits and struck out nine in eight innings Sept. 26 against the Twins in his last regular-season start. But it was the Twins, a 92-loss team that sold off half its roster at the trade deadline and fired its manager a day after the season ended.

The rest of Nola’s season was rough. He had a 6.16 ERA through nine starts when he went on the injured list for the first time since 2017 with a sprained right ankle. As he tried to come back, he fractured a rib on his right side.

Nola wound up missing three months in the middle of the season. Upon his return, he had a 5.84 ERA in eight starts. In all, he finished with a 6.01 ERA in 94⅓ innings.

The bar is low for Nola, even if the win-or-go-home stakes couldn’t be higher. If he’s able to go through the Dodgers’ order once — nine outs without falling behind — before yielding to Suárez, it would be a measure of redemption.

“I’m feeling pretty good lately,” Nola said. “My body’s all healthy. The ball feels like it’s coming out pretty well. I’m just throwing more. I wasn’t able to do much since getting hurt for three months. The more I was able to pitch, the better the body’s felt.”

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Whatever the case, the Nola-Suárez decision is another log on the fire for Thomson’s critics, who will make even more noise if the move backfires on the Phillies.

At minimum, starting Nola to keep Suárez available in relief could be interpreted as a lack of confidence in the bridge to closer Jhoan Duran, who almost certainly will get a six-out save opportunity in Game 3 if the Phillies have a lead in the eighth inning. David Robertson, Matt Strahm, and Orion Kerkering have all stubbed their toes in the first two games.

“No, not necessarily,” Thomson said. “Not necessarily.”

Instead, Thomson offered a different explanation for the Nola-Suárez piggyback.

“I’d regret having either one of those guys not pitch in this series,” he said.

Better late, apparently, than never.