Phillips’ injury was more severe than the Dodgers initially indicated and will likely force him onto the injured list at the start of the 2025 season.
The Dodgers reliever tore his subscapularis during the NLCS, damaging the largest muscle in the rotator cuff.
The 30-year-old recorded a team-high 18 saves for the Dodgers last season and delivered 6⅔ scoreless innings across five outings in their NLDS and NLCS wins.
Phillips admitted he struggled to recover after Game 6 of the NLCS, realizing something felt off. After taking Monday to rest, he returned on Tuesday feeling more confident, but his throwing session didn’t go as planned.
The following day, while the Dodgers geared up for the World Series against the Yankees, Phillips underwent an MRI that confirmed the tear. He received a cortisone injection in an attempt to speed up the healing process and make a return for the series, but it wasn’t enough. Instead, he watched from the sidelines as the team played its biggest games of the year.
“Could I have gone out there and thrown the ball? Maybe. But I wanted to make sure if I was pitching, I was in a position to help the team and I just wasn’t there,” Phillips remarked via an interview from The Orange County Register’s Bill Plunkett.
