The Braves’ season has been defined by overcoming injuries and their postseason journey will be more of the same.
NL Cy Young favorite Chris Sale has been left off the team’s wild-card roster after experiencing back spams in a crushing blow to the team’s chances.
The Braves now will turn to righty AJ Smith-Shawver, who has appeared in seven career games, on Tuesday night in Game 1 against the Padres.
Losing Sale puts the Braves in a brutal spot in their best-of-three series and also raises questions about his availability should Atlanta advance.
The Braves had held Sale for the second game of Monday’s doubleheader in case they had to win, and after the Mets rallied in Game 1 they seemed set to start Sale.
Sale, though, had experienced back spasms and they learned Monday he could not pitch in the second game.
Braves manager Brian Snitker said after the 3-0 win in the second game that Sale likely would not be available against the Padres, but they were holding out hope.
One day later, they will now have to try to down a strong Padres team without their ace.
Sale, 35, went 18-3 with a 2.38 ERA, striking out 225 batters in 177 2/3 innings — all numbers that won him the National League pitching Triple Crown.
His back flared up during his last start on Sept. 19 against the Reds, and roughly two weeks later he is still not ready to return to the mound.
“(Sale) is crushed,” Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos said Monday, according to MLB.com. “There was a little bit of, ‘Should he go out there or not?’ But ultimately at the end of the day, if you’re not at your best and you don’t ultimately believe you can help your team and you can hurt yourself, it’s not a good outcome across the board.”
Smith-Shawver, 21, threw 4 1/3 scoreless innings this season at the major-league level and has tossed just 29 2/3 MLB innings in his MLB career.
He went 3-8 with a 4.85 ERA in the minors, with 20 of his 21 starts coming in Triple-A.
The Padres have -174 odds at FanDuel to win the series, with the Braves coming in at +146. The winner will face the top-seeded Dodgers in the ALDS.
