ATLANTA — The Phillies will take on the Atlanta Braves in Game 1 of a Wild Card Series between National League East rivals on Tuesday afternoon at Truist Park. They won’t have the help of any of their trade-deadline acquisitions.
Philadelphia made three big-league additions in early August, trading for reliever Brooks Raley from the Mets and second baseman Luis Arraez and reliever Caleb Kilian from San Francisco. Neither of those deals went as planned for the Phillies, and none of those three players will be on the roster for the best-of-three series, the club announced Tuesday morning.
Arraez (sprained left ankle) and Kilian (strained left oblique) are not available due to injury. Raley was not included in the bullpen following an extremely disappointing stretch with the Phillies. Fellow left-hander Tanner Banks will take his place after returning from the 60-day injured list on Sept. 13.
“I think the biggest thing,” interim manager Don Mattingly said, “the biggest flip between Brooks and Tanner was that Tanner has been kind of built to 45, 50 pitches, and if we got in that kind of game, we know a guy is out there that’s got three innings in him. So it’s tougher like that.”
Raley, previously a reliable veteran lefty who had a 1.96 ERA in 46 appearances for New York to begin the year, imploded down the stretch with the Phillies. He had a 7.94 ERA in 16 games, tossing only 11 1/3 innings and clearly falling out of favor by the end of the season.
Instead, the team will go with Banks, who himself had a lackluster season. He emerged as a go-to left-hander in 2025, then struggled to the tune of a 6.19 ERA in 32 appearances while missing two months with a forearm strain. But he built up his pitch count on his minor-league rehab assignment and finished the year with three scoreless outings in a row. Banks could be useful in an extra-inning affair (or to mop up a blowout in a non-elimination game).
“Brooks is more of a one-inning guy and wasn’t quite as durable as Banksy,” Mattingly said. “That’s kind of where it went to that last spot.”
The three-time batting champion Arraez, who hit just .278 with a .678 OPS in 46 games for Philadelphia, wanted to try swinging a bat on Monday during the club’s workout day, but he was not physically able to do so. While that prevented him from being rostered for the Wild Card Series, the Phillies have not ruled out the idea of potentially having him for the NL Division Series, should they get there.
“Well, we hope that it’s a possibility,” Mattingly said. “Obviously, he tried some stuff yesterday and just wasn’t able to do anything. He feels like he’s better. He feels better but not to the point of being able to compete at the major-league level. We’re hoping, obviously, No. 1, to advance, which gives him a few more days and him to be a part of it.”
But at least for now, the Phillies will have to compete without their midseason investments.
