The Braves announced their roster for the wild-card series Tuesday and it does not include left-hander Chris Sale. The club is going with an even split of 13 pitchers and position players, the latter group including two catchers, five infielders and six outfielders.
Sale had an excellent bounce-back season in 2024 and could be awarded a Cy Young trophy in a few weeks, but the campaign ended on a frustrating note. He hasn’t taken the mound since Sept. 19 against the Reds. In that outing, Sale’s velocity was down and he hasn’t pitched since. Up until Monday, it seemed as though the club was just holding Sale to see if it would need him for a do-or-die game, otherwise hoping to hold him back for the first game of the wild-card round.
Going into Monday’s double-header, which was necessitated after two midweek games between the Mets and Atlanta were delayed by Hurricane Helene, both clubs needed a victory to secure a playoff spot. Spencer Schwellenbach started Game 1, which the Mets went on to win, 8-7. It was expected that Sale would take the ball for the second contest, but the club then announced that Sale had been scratched with back spasms. The issue had flared up during that start against the Reds, and he kept hoping to be able to return to the mound, but it didn’t improve and then worsened on Sunday night, per Mark Bowman of MLB.com (X links).
Based on Sale being left off the Wild Card roster, it can be assumed that the club doesn’t expect him to be game ready in the next few days. As mentioned, he is having a great season and undoubtedly would have been a part of its plans if he were healthy. He made 29 starts this year with a 2.38 earned run average, 32.1% strikeout rate, 5.6% walk rate and 44.8% ground ball rate.
Without Sale, the club will have to get creative to survive against the Padres. Due to the aforementioned double-header situation, it used a lot of arms Monday. Schwellenbach started the first game and Grant Holmes the second. Neither of those pitchers are on the roster, either, which makes sense since they probably wouldn’t be available for a few days anyway.
Max Fried and Reynaldo López will likely start game two and three respectively, as they would be on normal rest for those contests following their last regular season outings. Charlie Morton started on Sunday and might not be available early in the series, though he is on the roster.
For Tuesday, the club may be looking to get some innings out of Bryce Elder or AJ Smith-Shawver. Neither has been a huge part of the club’s performance of late, but they may need to step up while the bullpen is taxed and the club can’t turn to Sale, Schwellenbach or Holmes. Elder posted a 6.52 ERA in the big leagues this year while frequently being optioned to the minors. He had a solid 3.73 ERA in Triple-A this year but hasn’t pitched for the big-league club since August 6.
Smith-Shawver only pitched once in the majors this year, a spot start of 4 1/3 innings in May. He has a 4.85 ERA in Triple-A on the year, though he finished somewhat strong with a 3.68 ERA over his last seven starts.
In addition to Elder and Smith-Shawver, Atlanta’s playoff roster consists of Fried, Lopez, Morton, Aaron Bummer, Jesse Chavez, Daysbel Hernández, Raisel Iglesias, Luke Jackson, Joe Jiménez, Pierce Johnson and Dylan Lee. On the position player side, they have catchers Sean Murphy and Travis d’Arnaud, infielders Ozzie Albies, Orlando Arcia, Whit Merrifield, Matt Olson and Gio Urshela, as well as outfielders Michael Harris II, Jarred Kelenic, Ramón Laureano, Marcell Ozuna, Jorge Soler and Eli White.
