MLB playoffs 2022 - Nola brothers duel in Phillies-Padres Game 2

SAN DIEGO — A unique and unwieldy strain of anxiety settled into Section 111, Row 36 at Petco Park on Wednesday afternoon. It was mixed with anticipation and pride and something more difficult to define, something that felt contradictory and borderline impossible, like imprisoned joy.

A.J. Nola arrived in Section 111 for Game 2 of the National League Championship Series wearing the jersey of his son, Padres catcher Austin Nola, underneath the jersey of his son, Phillies starting pitcher Aaron Nola. His brown Padres cap seemed intended to provide some semblance of balance. Stacie Nola, the players' mother, went with a navy blue outfit that betrayed no affinity.

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Aaron was starting on the mound for the Phillies; Austin was catching for the Padres, batting ninth. The Nolas were set to become the first brothers to face each other as hitter and pitcher in postseason history. They're the sixth pair of brothers to play against each other in the postseason, the first since the Alomars in 1996.

It sounds like every crazed sports parent's wildest fantasy — and yet what transpired Wednesday afternoon was roughly four hours of two people trying their hardest to comport themselves in a way that would betray no favoritism or even emotion. It sounds like a storybook but it looked a little different up close.

AUSTIN IS SCHEDULED to hit third in the bottom half of the third inning, and so a cameraman and Fox reporter Ken Rosenthal arrive in Section 111 to capture the parents' take on history. A.J. does all the talking, an arrangement that was made