Philadelphia Phillies Receive Massive Update on Jesus Luzardo

The Philadelphia Phillies received a welcome sign on Sunday that Jesus Luzardo’s path back from a sore left shoulder may be opening at the right moment.

With the regular season winding down and a postseason berth still to be secured, the left-hander was spotted playing catch in the outfield before the series finale against the New York Mets, a development first noted by The Athletic’s Matt Gelb.

For a pitcher who has been idle on the 15-day injured list, that simple activity represents the first tangible progress since he was scratched from a start against the Atlanta Braves on September 12.

Imaging at the time showed no structural damage, yet the Phillies still placed Luzardo on the injured list with the stint backdated so he becomes eligible to return on September 27.

Whether they activate him before the final weekend remains uncertain. The club may prefer to keep an extra reliever available for the closing series against the Tampa Bay Rays rather than rush a starter who has not thrown in more than a week.

Even after catch sessions resume, Luzardo will need time on a mound and a measured buildup if he is to function as a starter. That timeline makes it difficult to know how many innings he could realistically provide in the early rounds of October.

The urgency is real. Philadelphia sits at 85-70 with a four-game cushion over the Arizona Diamondbacks for the last National League wild-card spot and seven games remaining.

The magic number to clinch a playoff berth is four. The larger goal, however, is hosting the wild-card series.

The Phillies trail the Chicago Cubs and San Diego Padres by a game, and Chicago holds the head-to-head tiebreaker, so Philadelphia must gain two games on the Cubs to control its own October schedule.

Rotation planning already contains moving parts. Zack Wheeler and Cristopher Sánchez need to be aligned for a potential Wild Card Series.

The third starter could be Luzardo or Aaron Nola, depending on how the final week unfolds. If the Phillies advance, they will also need a fourth starter; rookie Andrew Painter currently stands in that role.

A healthy Luzardo would give manager Rob Thomson far more flexibility and a better chance at a deeper run.

Sunday’s start belongs to Sánchez, who will take the ball at Citi Field with first pitch scheduled for 1:10 p.m. MST. The Mets have already been eliminated, so the immediate objective is salvaging a split.

Sánchez has also slipped behind Chris Sale in the National League Cy Young conversation, adding another layer of importance to the outing. For now, the most encouraging development remains the sight of Luzardo throwing again, a small but necessary first step toward whatever role the Phillies may need him to fill in October.