Two of the Dodgers’ best relievers missed part of the postseason with injuries, but general manager Brandon Gomes expects the pair to be healthy for Opening Day.
Gomes said on the final day of the Winter Meetings that the Dodgers are expecting left-hander Alex Vesia (intercostal injury) and right-hander Evan Phillips (shoulder) to be ready to pitch by Opening Day. However, they won’t know for sure until the pitchers get to camp and start throwing with more intensity.
Vesia was sidelined during the National League Championship Series against the New York Mets. He endured an injury to the muscles that run between the ribs and form the chest wall. The injury occured during warmups before his outing in Game 5 of the NL Division Series. When he returned for the World Series, the Dodgers were forced to exclude Phillips from the roster.
Phillips was scheduled to throw two innings in Game 6 of the NLCS. However, the 30-year-old only pitched one inning before exiting with shoulder discomfort. Phillips’ injury was a major blow to the Dodgers’ bullpen because he did not allow a single run across 6.2 innings on the mound during the postseason. He also has never allowed a run in any postseason game of his MLB career.
Like Phillips, Vesia also held both the San Diego Padres and New York Yankees scoreless. After returning to the postseason roster, Vesia pitched 2.2 innings across four games in the World Series. This marks the second postseason since 2022 where Vesia has not allowed any runs.
In addition to their postseason consistency, Vesia and Phillips were reliable pieces of the bullpen in the regular season. Vesia had a career-best season, logging career-highs in ERA (1.76), appearances (67), and strikeouts (87). Meanwhile, Phillips made at least 60 appearances for the third consecutive season. He recorded a 3.62 ERA while striking out 63 batters.
Photo Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
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