The New York Mets and Atlanta Braves entered Monday’s doubleheader game under strange circumstances. Circumstances got even stranger when there was an injury update surrounding a former Boston Red Sox star.

The Mets won a thrilling back-and-forth Game 1 to secure a spot in the National League playoffs. That meant the Braves also had to win Game 2 to get into the postseason, which originally meant Chris Sale would take the ball for Atlanta.

Just minutes before the start of Game 2, Atlanta general manager Alex Anthopoulos told reporters that Sale would not start Game 2 after suffering back spasms. Losing Sale in that start could have been detrimental considering he is likely the leading candidate for the NL Cy Young Award and nearly won the Triple Crown.

Instead, the Braves did enough with the bats to secure a 3-0 win and secure the No. 5 seed in the NL and a date with the San Diego Padres in the wild-card round. Although the Braves got the job done, Sale’s return is anything but a given.

According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, Braves manager Brian Snitker told reporters that the left-hander is unlikely to play in the series against the Padres. Atlanta will struggle to put together a starting rotation on its cross-country flight to San Diego this week after a busy final weekend of the regular season.

The Red Sox community knows all too much about injuries that come at inopportune times and often come from his hand. After dominating his first two seasons in Boston and winning the World Series in 2018, the Red Sox left-hander couldn’t stay on the mound after signing a massive contract extension under president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski.

Sale made just 31 starts for the Red Sox after 2019, although he made three more in the 2021 postseason, in which Boston was just two wins away from a return to the World Series.

This season in Atlanta offered Sale a chance to resurrect his career if he could stay healthy, and that’s exactly what he did. Sale posted an 18-3 record with a 2.38 ERA and 225 strikeouts. It’s an incredibly encouraging season that unfortunately could have a very different ending depending on how quickly Sale can recover.

The Braves are seeking their first title since 2021 and hope to give Sale more time to return with a strong playoff run.