Spencer Turnbull’s goal: Make it back to the Phillies for the playoffs. Even if he doesn’t, he’s ‘in a good spot.’

Spencer Turnbull had been looking forward to his start in Detroit in June. It was hard to blame him. The Phillies’ right-handed pitcher was drafted by the Tigers in 2014 and spent almost the entirety of his professional career with the organization.

After a few difficult seasons plagued by injury, it all came to an unceremonious end. In 2023, Turnbull got into a disagreement with the club that required the players’ union to get involved. The Tigers decided not to tender him a contract for 2024, and the Phillies signed him in February.

His outing on June 26 was a chance to show Detroit what it was missing out on. But instead, it went horribly wrong. Turnbull threw only 36 pitches. He allowed one run and two walks with two strikeouts and departed after the third inning with right shoulder soreness.

He would miss the rest of the regular season.

“It [stinks], because you want to go in there and do really well,” Turnbull said. “I was excited about that. [There was] probably pressure to pitch well against them and get back in the rotation [permanently]. Probably wanted to push through a little soreness or whatever I was feeling. But I wasn’t worried about anything [long-term]. Hindsight is 20/20.”

What began as shoulder soreness later was diagnosed as a right lat strain. At first, Turnbull tried to “rush it a little bit” while rehabbing at the Phillies’ facility in Clearwater, Fla., so he could get back for the final month of the season with the playoff-bound Phillies. But after feeling soreness in one of his first full-intensity bullpen sessions, he took some time off.

Turnbull set a new goal for himself — one he is still striving for.

“Whatever you do, you have to make it back for postseason,” Turnbull said. “Try to get back sooner than that. But you can’t rush it. So you’ve just got to take it day by day.

“Obviously, it was a bummer that I wasn’t with the team for the clinching celebration. But I figured if I’m not there for that celebration, I can be there for the rest of the celebrations.

“It’s more important for me to try to get as healthy as possible and as sharp with my mechanics and pitches and as ready as I can to give myself a chance to be on the roster.”

Turnbull is not guaranteed to pitch in the National League Division Series, which gets underway at 4:08 p.m. Saturday at Citizens Bank Park against the Mets, who defeated the Brewers, 4-2, on Thursday night, with four runs in the ninth inning. Manager Rob Thomson described Turnbull’s outing in Wednesday’s intrasquad game as “fine,” but “erratic” and added that he could use some more work.

If Turnbull is left off of the NLDS roster, that wouldn’t preclude him from being included on another playoff roster down the line, should the Phillies advance. Thomson has said he would like someone who can pitch multiple innings in his final bullpen spot, and, so far, Turnbull is stretched out to 50 pitches.

There is risk in adding a reliever who hasn’t pitched in a major league game since June 26. But Turnbull, 32, felt he proved something in his 17 outings before that day in Detroit. Over 54⅓ innings this season, he posted a career-low 2.65 ERA, with a career-high 26.1% strikeout rate.

“I feel like I’m in a good spot going into next year, either way,” he said. “I’m finishing the year healthy again, and hopefully I could get some postseason opportunities here, too.

“So, yeah, I feel good. Stuff feels good. Arm feels good. I feel 100% healthy now.”

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It has been a chaotic time. Turnbull’s wife, Ashley, is pregnant and due in November. She could give birth around the World Series.

His hope is that the Phillies will be celebrating with a parade down Broad Street around that time.

“Hopefully [it happens] right after we win a ring,” he said. “We’ll rush to the hospital. We’re cutting it close, again. But we like to cut it close in our family.”