Earlier Tuesday, Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez noted a change in his starter for Wednesday's regular season finale:

Fredi has announced that RHP Ben Sheets will start tomorrow in place of RHP Tim Hudson. The start will be the 250th of Sheets' career.

— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) October 2, 2012

It was presumed by most that this was being done to set Hudson up to start Friday's wild-card game against either the Cardinals or Dodgers in Atlanta. But now we have learned another reason:

Tomorrow will be Ben Sheets' last career appearance. He said he will not ever pitch again. This was an inspiring comeback by a great guy

— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) October 2, 2012

Sheets came back after missing more than a year and a half; before 2012 he last pitched in the major leagues July 19, 2010 with the Athletics. He's made eight starts for the Braves thus far this year, posting a decent 3.54 ERA and 1.345 WHIP, not too far from his career norms.

Sheets was the No. 1 pick of the Milwaukee Brewers (10th overall) in 1999; he had some good years for Milwaukee but never fulfilled the potential he was thought to have due to injuries. He was a four-time All-Star and helped pitch the Brewers to a wild-card spot in 2008.