The Philadelphia Phillies are scheduled to begin their best-of-seven National League Championship Series against the San Diego Padres on Tuesday night. When they do, they'll have a familiar face available to them again out of the bullpen: right-hander David Robertson.
Robertson missed the the NL Division Series against the Atlanta Braves after straining his calf celebrating a Bryce Harper home run in the Wild Card Series. He became a key member of Philadelphia's bullpen after being acquired from the Chicago Cubs at the trade deadline, notching a 2.70 ERA (153 ERA+) and six saves for the Phillies despite an unsightly 1.88 strikeout-to-walk ratio. In 58 appearances overall this season, he's posted a 172 ERA+ and a 2.31 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
Our NLCS roster is set!#RedOctober pic.twitter.com/tKjBE8tMVi
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) October 18, 2022
Manager Rob Thomson left the door open for Robertson to make the roster during his media availability session on Monday. "It's kind of miraculous how quick he's come off his injury and how much better he is. I wouldn't have expected he's at where he's at," Thomson said while noting that Robertson was in the process of throwing a bullpen, and that he would later be put through pitching fielding drills to test his agility. Robertson clearly must've passed whatever internal threshold the Phillies had for including him on their roster, suggesting he should be good to go.
Robertson's inclusion on the roster led to the removal of fellow righty Nick Nelson, who did not make an appearance during the NLDS.
The NLCS between the Phillies and the Padres is an unexpected one. The Phillies had to topple the St. Louis Cardinals and defending champion Braves to reach this point. The Padres, for their part, had to edge out the New York Mets and the Los Angeles Dodgers, two teams who combined for 212 regular season victories.
