Inside The Phillies

Edmundo Sosa Makes His Triumphant Return, Breaking New Ground in the Process

Philadelphia Phillies infielder Edmundo Sosa recorded the final out of the NLWCS against his former team on Saturday.

Leo Morgenstern

Edmundo Sosa Makes His Triumphant Return, Breaking New Ground in the Process
Edmundo Sosa Makes His Triumphant Return, Breaking New Ground in the Process /
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Edmundo Sosa made a triumphant return this weekend, in more ways than one.

Sosa returned from the injured list, seeing his first major league action in three weeks. He returned to St. Louis, this time facing off against the organization he called home for a decade. He returned to the postseason as one of the few position players on the Philadelphia Phillies roster with playoff experience.  

On Friday night, Sosa returned to the Phillies dugout covered in dirt, having safely scored the team's fourth run of the day – a run that would ultimately prove to be the difference maker in a 6-3 Philadelphia victory. On Saturday, he returned to the field, once again replacing Alec Bohm. In the bottom of the ninth, with two on, two out, and the Phillies up by two, Sosa made an excellent running grab to end the ballgame. 

With that catch, Sosa was in brand new territory. This was no return for the 26-year-old infielder. Never before has he won a playoff game. Never before has he advanced to the Division Series. And never before has he been the postseason hero, mobbed by his adoring teammates as he holds the final out in his glove. 

When Sosa first came to Philadelphia, it wasn't the most exciting of trade deadline moves. At the time, he was hitting just .189 with a .515 OPS, and the team didn't exactly have a shortage of soft-hitting shortstops. 

To many, it was unclear why Phillies President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski saw the need to add another utility infielder and why he traded away a promising relief arm to do so. Yet a couple short months later, it's clear the Phillies earned a significant return on their investment.

Edmundo Sosa made his remarkable return in the NL Wild Card Series, and it went about as well as anyone could have hoped. Now it's time for him, and the rest of his Phillies teammates, to break new ground with a deep postseason run. 

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Leo Morgenstern
LEO MORGENSTERN

Leo Morgenstern is a writer and editor for Inside the Phillies. He also writes for FanGraphs and Just Baseball, and his work has appeared on Pitcher List and Baseball Prospectus. He previously covered the Phillies for SB Nation's The Good Phight. You can follow him on Twitter @morgensternmlb.

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