Evan Phillips feels like a mountaineer who reaches the final base camp on the way up Mount Everest but is unable to join the expedition for the assault on the summit.
The right-hander was one of the Dodgers' top relievers this season, and he did not give up a run in 6 2/3 innings over five National League Division Series and Championship Series games, but a shoulder injury rendered him unfit for the World Series against the New York Yankees, and he was left off the roster.
"It's really tough," Phillips said. "I mean, this is a historic week in Dodgers history, and I want nothing more than to compete and be a part of this. ... I'm very disheartened by how things have gone for me personally."
Phillips threw 18 pitches in a scoreless sixth inning of a 10-5 NLCS-clinching Game 6 win over the New York Mets. Manager Dave Roberts planned to have Phillips pitch the seventh inning of the bullpen game, but when Phillips complained of arm fatigue, Roberts pivoted and sent Daniel Hudson out for the seventh.
An MRI test showed "nothing majorly concerning," Phillips said, but it did reveal some nerve irritation in his shoulder. Phillips hoped to recover in time to pitch in the World Series, but because his injury dated to a previous round, the Dodgers would not be able to replace him on the World Series roster if he got hurt again.
"It's just not bouncing back the way we need it to for me to be a usable pitcher for multiple games, and we don't want to put other guys in the bullpen at risk if I were unable to go and unable to be replaced on the roster," Phillips said. "That would really set us back as a group, and ultimately, that's what the decision came down to."
Phillips, one of the team's top three leverage relievers along with Blake Treinen and Michael Kopech, said he is "progressing each day, hoping to make big strides in a short amount of time," but to be added to the World Series roster, another pitcher has to get hurt.
"I have a lot of personal hurdles to climb before I get to that point," Phillips said. "We're still going day by day and trying to get to a point where I'm healthy enough to be an option. If that's in the World Series, I'd be more than thrilled. But we have the big picture in mind, as well. It's a very complex situation."
Roberts said right-hander Walker Buehler, who started Game 3 of the NLDS in San Diego and Game 3 of the NLCS in New York's Citi Field, will start Game 3 at Yankee Stadium on Monday night. "We love Walker in big games, and the road isn't going to faze him," Roberts said before Game 2. "It also allows him to be available for a potential Game 7, too." ... Roberts said Jack Flaherty's right hamstring "tightened up a little bit" on the pitch before he gave up a home run to Giancarlo Stanton in the sixth inning of Game 1, which is why the right-hander was shaking his leg. "But I don't think it's going to be a big deal," Roberts said.