The Luis Arráez Injury Comes at the Worst Possible Time...

Just when you thought the Phillies couldn’t get anymore uncomfortable and weird, they lost one their most important bats.

Unfortunately Luis Arráez suffered a sprained left ankle Tuesday night against the Milwaukee Brewers, when he awkwardly tried to avoid getting out running to first. Luckily x-rays came back negative, but an MRI did confirm the sprain. Don Mattingly also acknowledged Friday that it wasn’t encouraging.

Arráez did not play Friday against the Tampa Bay Rays, and Mattingly said he would be surprised if the second basemen returned before the end of the regular season. So far, the Phils have kept him off the injured list which has significance because moving to the IL could affect his availability for the upcoming Wild Card Series, given they actually make it.

Honestly, the timing could not be worse.

Luis Arráez is one of the premier contact hitters in all of baseball, and the best option for the Phillies is essentially exactly what they did Friday against Tampa. Move Stott back to second, and move Edmundo Sosa to third, Alec Bohm can remain at first, and they can keep Harper in right field.

Losing Arráez, the lineup becomes even more dependent on Schwarber, Harper, Turner, and Bohm at the top of the lineup. They cannot afford to leave runners stranded and have pitching lose the game 2-1.

The rest of the season seems to be running on what-ifs and hopes. We hope Stott gets hot, we hope Harper plays elite baseball, we hope Andrew Painter has a good start, we hope Arráez returns in time for the postseason, we hope Trea Turner plays up to his contract.

With two games remaining, the Phillies are just fighting to try and get into October, when the last month of the season the team was getting geared up for Red October, and now they are scraping and scrambling to get into the Wild Card.

The team needs to generate offense, and Luis Arráez is important for that in the postseason.

PHOTO CREDIT: Bill Streicher/Imagn Images