Phillies’ Zack Wheeler holds no grudges against Mets as he faces ex-team in NLDS

PHILADELPHIA — If Zack Wheeler held animus toward Mets officials he felt did not value him properly, those officials are no longer around.

So ahead of Wheeler’s first postseason start against his former club, he is not publicly treating it like a revenge game.

Wheeler, a Met from 2013-19, acknowledged facing off with a team that helped raise him is both weird and now fairly normal.

“It’s a little bit of both. It’s fun playing against those guys always,” Wheeler said at workout day Friday at Citizens Bank Park on the eve of Game 1 of the NLDS. “But at the same time, I’ve been over here for a while now and there’s no hard feelings. 

“Everything has kind of changed over there personnel-wise. Like I said, there’s no hard feelings, it’s just baseball at this point.” 

Personnel-wise, David Stearns is now running the club differently — and with far different resources under new owner Steve Cohen — than Wheeler knew in his Mets days.

The righty battled injuries but consistently showed promise on the mound in Queens, combining for a 3.65 ERA in 60 starts in 2018 and 2019.

The Phillies correctly saw some untapped potential and won the bidding at $118 million for an arm the Mets considered fragile.

Then-general manager Brodie Van Wagenen, who was operating with a Wilpon budget, jabbed at Wheeler on the way out.

“Our health and performance department, our coaches, all contributed and helped him parlay two good half-seasons over the last five years into $118 million,” Van Wagenen said before the 2020 season, “so I am proud of what our group was able to help him accomplish.”

The Phillies have helped him accomplish much more.

Since Wheeler signed, he has been the most valuable pitcher in baseball, according to FanGraphs, and by a decent margin over No. 2 Corbin Burnes.

Once this year’s voting is tallied, Wheeler will have finished in the top 12 in Cy Young Award voting four times in five Phillies seasons.

This season might have been his best, finishing with a 2.57 ERA with 224 strikeouts in 200 innings and entering the postseason as the ace of the NL East champions. 

The only active Mets hitters who overlapped with Wheeler are Brandon Nimmo and Pete Alonso, whose home run Thursday Wheeler watched with pleasure. 

“I know he likes the spotlight,” Wheeler said, “I’m happy for him as a person and happy for him.” 

Those are the kinds of relationships that Wheeler will put to the side on Saturday, though it won’t be the first time.

Wheeler has faced the Mets 15 times and generally pitched well, most recently holding them to two runs in seven innings on Sept. 22. 

Wheeler will worry about the familiarity he has with the opposing hitters and not the familiarity he holds with opposing executives. 

“There’s a lot of familiarity there,” Wheeler, who will oppose Kodai Senga, said of Mets hitters. “They know me. I know them. 

“And it’s kind of a cat-and-mouse game at this point