NL WILDCARD GAME: PHILLIES VS BRAVES

September 28, 2026

Don Mattingly

Truist Park

Philadelphia Phillies

Workout Day Press Conference

Q. Who's starting for you tomorrow?

DON MATTINGLY: Zeus. I should say open. But for the most part.

Q. What do you expect from him?

DON MATTINGLY: I don't think we really know what to expect. Been down a while. Pitched an inning, albeit short, yesterday. Yeah, we kind of wanted to get -- hoped to get the game off on a good foot, a good note, and see where it goes.

Q. Do you expect (indiscernible) and Proctor behind them at some point?

DON MATTINGLY: I would say (indiscernible) would be out in that bullpen for sure. We haven't sat down and really tried to script it yet. We don't know what their lineup looks like or anything else, so we'll see tomorrow.

Q. How do you guys come out of -- I know it was only four pitches. You guys felt good about how --

DON MATTINGLY: We wouldn't be doing this if he didn't come out feeling normal. He felt good.

Q. What all went into that decision, maybe pain or rest or whatever?

DON MATTINGLY: Just a lot of talking through it. Give us the best chance to try to get the game off on a right foot. The bullpen games haven't went great for us this year, but that's where we're at. Obviously what we had to get in and what we had to do with Noles the other day, all that kind of led to what we're doing tomorrow.

Q. How do you view Wheeler going into this series? Do you think he could start in this series, or could he be available out of the bullpen tomorrow?

DON MATTINGLY: I mean, maybe at some point. I guess some point would be if we got to a Game 3. Would that be something that was a possibility? That would be what, day 4 or something like that? Yeah, it would be something -- we've just got to see how he recovers through this, these next few days.

Q. As a starter you're saying in Game 3 or just in general?

DON MATTINGLY: No, I would think if we got there, it's kind of like the other day, everybody is available.

Q. Will Arraez be on the playoff roster?

DON MATTINGLY: He will not. We still get improvement every day, but not enough to -- he was going to try to hit today and wasn't able to do it, so we kind of crossed that bridge today.

Q. Otto is the replacement for Arraez?

DON MATTINGLY: Otto is going to be on the roster, yes.

Q. Will you have three catchers?

DON MATTINGLY: Three catchers.

Q. Did you guys have any other speed defensive option in the organization to add to the roster other than three catchers, or no?

DON MATTINGLY: We've got a lot of guys hurt. Kam Misner is one of the guys we talked about, from the left side, could play all three in the outfield; broke a finger. (Indiscernible) is another guy we talked about but had a thumb injury. Coming back, but it would be very, very limited.

Yeah, there's a couple other guys, but there's some -- they've had a lot of health issues down below. That's kind of where it's taken us. But actually the third catcher is not terrible for us because our second or third catcher, however you look at it, is pretty versatile. We use him as a pinch runner. We use him at first. We can play him at third. We can play him in the outfield. So he is a guy that gives us a lot of versatility, and really, not a true, true base stealer but a guy that you really trust on the bases, that can get a bag if you don't pay attention.

Q. Bowlan, is he going to --

DON MATTINGLY: Bowlan is on the roster.

Q. Obviously he's good to go in your mind?

DON MATTINGLY: He was good to go yesterday. There was a point where we talked about him yesterday because we really wanted to get him into a game. Then all of a sudden we've got a wet mound we're dealing with, and what he's coming back from is probably the worst case scenario is a wet mound and slipping.

Q. Did you want to pitch Luzardo yesterday, or was that a situation where you felt like you had to pitch him before getting to the Playoffs?

DON MATTINGLY: No, we had him -- I don't think it was 100 percent had to, but in that game, you're not letting anything get away. You're not going to let them creep back into a game and that type of thing. So yeah, we needed to -- not that 100 percent -- we could have used anybody, right?

Q. But I know you want to see hitters in a simulated situation --

DON MATTINGLY: We wanted to see him on Saturday, and that would have made him not available on Sunday. But it actually was good to get him into a game, and then to see the bounce-back today -- you know, what this ends up being, again, I don't think we know what to expect or what we should expect.

Q. If he didn't pitch yesterday, is it a conversation of who opens tomorrow different, or is it like --

DON MATTINGLY: Tomorrow?

Q. Or do you roll the dice no matter what?

DON MATTINGLY: I think everything has been fluid. We didn't kind of sketch out some little stuff that we found out in that last week, you don't want to look too far ahead. There was a lot of different scenarios that we talked about, what if this, what if that. Part of the problem with the last week for me is, well, if we get here, we're going to do this, if we get there, if we need this -- next thing you know you're trying to beat the Brewers and talking about all the other options and scenarios. Pretty much put 100 percent effort into beating the Brewers and not concentrating on anybody else.

Yeah, so yesterday using him was like, we're going to use him.

Q. I'm assuming that your righties without Rice, Sosa, De La Cruz, Hill, do you expect them to be in there against Sale, and what have those three guys and the role that they've played, what have they meant to your club so far?

DON MATTINGLY: Yeah, we haven't announced lineup yet, so I don't want to go too far. It's pretty easy to project. But because we haven't talked to guys, I don't like to do anything without guys knowing first. Talking to those three guys, obviously Sosa the last couple years he hasn't been here, but he's been a guy that's kind of the Swiss Army Knife now because he can play second, he can play short, he can play third. He's showed us he can play left. His value grows. So he's been good.

And I think D Hill and Dahl did a good job for us. We struggled with lefties earlier in the year, and they at least give us some options to put a better crew out there. They give us a better produce, and they've produced. D Hill has been good. He's been good on defense. He's stolen some bags, hit some homers. Dahl is giving us good at-bats, solid defense. So both of those guys -- all three of those guys have really been good for us.

Q. Is (indiscernible) definitely your Game 2 starter?

DON MATTINGLY: Yeah, that's the plan. Get sane Chicago ready on regular.

Q. You had him in the bullpen yesterday. Was that just an emergency throw everybody in there?

DON MATTINGLY: Yeah, just so you guys can talk about it a little bit.

No, he wanted to be in there. I will say that. Day's rest is -- three days' rest or two days' didn't go great for Noles. But you know what, he was willing to be out there, and if you get to a certain point in the game and you're like, okay, there's two guys left and one of them is Sanchez, I would put him in the game.

Q. What do you do for Game 3 if it gets that far? Is that Nola?

DON MATTINGLY: Yeah, obviously that's an all-hands-on-deck type game, but he'll be the one that's working towards that for sure. Now, obviously something could change for tomorrow too. What we have to do tomorrow -- I mean, Day 2.

Q. You did mention that home games have been a challenge for you guys this season. How big of a challenge is trying to put together 27 outs tomorrow even with Luzardo at the beginning?

DON MATTINGLY: Yeah, I think this club over there, they present a challenge for anybody trying to get 27 outs. That's an really good offensive club and versatile, left right, and all that, so it's always tough.

Again, I think you just get to where you're at. This is how we got here. We're walking into it like this. We're going to show up and play, and we'll see where it goes.

Q. Maybe it puts a little added stress on your pitching staff as a whole, but do you think having to play important games at the end of the regular season can ultimately help you in a shortened series like this and throughout the postseason?

DON MATTINGLY: Yeah, I think anything you have to go through in general in your life or a season, you get better -- you learn from it. You've experienced it. It's not like we have an inexperienced group here that hasn't played in some big games.

But I think just that game yesterday is a nerve-racking game, right? Guys have to get ready for it. You don't know how it's going to go. They go out and throw up 5 spot in the first or something like that and you're scrambling.

You never know how the game is going to go. Our guys have been through it. But all teams really go through different -- adversity at different times during the season. It could be an injury stretch or your pitching or whatever is just going bad, and you've got to answer those questions and deal with it. We just had to do it down to the last day.

Q. I know he finished the game and he was out there today, but is Sosa fine? He had that weird -- what was it, a groin?

DON MATTINGLY: He was good. At first I thought it was ham my, and then I thought it was groin, and then he was telling me, I was walking to the plane and he was telling me something deep and I couldn't quite understand all of it, but he's moving good. I know that. I felt better when he chased that foul ball yesterday actually. He chased that foul ball to the tarp and he was running good. I'm like, he's not too bad.

At this point, guys are -- everybody is a little banged up in some way, shape or form. He's good to go.

Q. Fast ball velocity was up around the league for the sixth straight season. But Chris Sale being part of that rise maybe is a surprise. Based on your history in the game, how do you characterize the resurgence he's had late in his career?

DON MATTINGLY: I don't know about the resurgence. I have never seen him bad, so -- I haven't seen him a ton. I've seen him more here than anywhere.

But obviously he's a really good pitcher. He's got to be one of the top few lefties in the league, top few pitchers in the league.

Yeah, he presents a whole set of problems, but we've seen him a little bit. We haven't been great with him, but we'll see. Tomorrow is a new day. We'll go from there.