Sept. 12: Milwaukee general manager David Stearns confirmed that Yelich won’t need surgery but placed a timeline of eight to ten weeks on his recovery (Twitter links via Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel). Stearns described the injury as a “small” fracture and added that it’s not expected to impact Yelich in the long run.
Sept. 11: The Brewers can breathe a small sigh of relief. Yelich won’t need surgery, and he’ll be out just six weeks, according to Jim Bowden of SiriusXM.
Sept. 10: The Brewers announced devastating news Tuesday: Superstar outfielder Christian Yelich suffered a fractured right kneecap in their win over the Marlins and will miss the rest of the season. He incurred the injury after fouling a ball off his knee in the first inning.
This will cut short a phenomenal season for Yelich, who may have been on his way to Most Valuable Player honors in the National League for the second straight year (and could still win the award). Yelich’s campaign will conclude with a .329/.429/.671 line, 44 home runs, 30 stolen bases and 7.7 fWAR/7.1 rWAR in 580 plate appearances. The 27-year-old currently leads all of baseball in OPS (1.100), paces the NL in wRC+ (172), and stood a legitimate chance to post the first 50-30 season in the history of the sport.
The fact that the Brewers are firmly in the NL postseason race makes the loss of Yelich all the more horrific. After its latest victory, Milwaukee sits 76-68, just 1 1/2 games back of the division-rival Cubs for the league’s second wild-card spot. Now, with Yelich joining fellow offensive linchpin Keston Hiura on the shelf, it’s especially difficult to imagine the Brewers rallying to clinch a playoff spot for the second consecutive year.
At this point, it’s safe to say one of the main concerns for the Brew Crew is whether this injury will affect Yelich going forward. President of baseball operations David Stearns said Tuesday (via Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) that there’s not yet “a definitive time frame” for Yelich’s recovery, nor is it clear whether he’ll need surgery. The Brewers will reevaluate Yelich on Wednesday, per Stearns, who called the injury “a gut punch” but expressed hope the club will overcome what could realistically amount to a death blow for its 2019 hopes.
Senioreditor
Horrible news.
fox471 Dave
Dodger fan here but this is indeed “horrible news.” Yelich was having another outstanding year. Really a shame and I wish him a speedy and complete recovery.
jam
Lifelong fanatic Pirates fan here and there are few non-Pittsburgh players I root for. But Yelich is at the top of my list—he knows how to play the game and is the type of player baseball needs more of. Best wishes for a complete recovery.
Francys01
This is really bad for Milwaukee that needed him to try to play at least in the wild card game.
Bernie's Dander
This definitely kneecaps the Brewers’ chances.
snotrocket
It’s pretty brew-tal.
slowcurve
He’ll definitely be Milwauke-eng on crutches for a while. Terrible.
FrankieBaby
I’m going to kneed you to stop. Their really should be a cap to these comments
sacko
all these knee-jerk reactions make me sick
Dotnet22
Don’t patella me what I can and cannot say.
Ctrl alt dlt
*there
justin33broja
These comments are going to make me MVPee
colonel flagg
Ouch!
PapiElf
Uhhh…that’s not so good
TradeAcuna
All that just to end up like that. **** that!
bradthebluefish
Wave goodbye to the Brewers playoff chances.
Senioreditor
Horribly bad news.
stan lee the manly
Wow that’s got to be a painful one. Bad luck at a critical time for these guys, hope he recovers fine from this.
twinsfan368
Bye bye brew crew eh?
chitown311
Terrible news. Cardinals just wrapped up the division tonight
ib6ub9
Lol
getright11
Wish ur dad had wrapped up.
DockEllisDee
heyyoooooo I about spit out my beer
bitteroldman
Dude, that’s harsh
Bartis
I would not be surprised to see the Cubs crawl out of their own way, and make it a good race for the last week of the season. There are 7 remaining Cub/Cards games, 4 in Chicago, and 3 to end the season in Stl.
chitown311
Agreed. Quintana pitching lights out again tonight. Another great trade by Theoooooooooooooooooo
Banesays
What’ve the Sox done for you lately? Oh that’s right, nothing.
bitteroldman
It has to be a good deal if both sides think they got the better of it. Quintana is never going to be much more than a decent innings eater, albeit a left handed one..
Mikel Grady
And Jimenez a .240 hitter
gregstruth89
Cubs suck
allweatherfan
That hurts.
DockEllisDee
I’m a Reds fan bud godd****t that’s awful I was pulling for you guys
brewcrewbernie
F***********************K
LADreamin
This game just isn’t fair man. Get well soon, come back stronger
ib6ub9
Still will make the playoffs the cardinals and cubs will choke
VonPurpleHayes
Absolutely brutal news. I think the Brewers can still rally and get the Wild Card, but this makes things harder. They have a fairly easy schedule, but this is devastating. Sorry Brewers fans.
Phattey
Get better soon yeli
frankf
There couldn’t be a more devastating injury to a team as Yelich is to the Brewers. Without him, they’re maybe a tick above the Orioles.
Jeff Zanghi
Oh come on… the Orioles lol… a “tick above the Orioles” is a AA team… not the Brewers hahaha
Cam
Cut it out – different realms of baseball. Even with Yelich out injured, the Orioles would still find a way to give up homers to him.
SalaryCapMyth
So you really think if you put Yelich on the Orioles they would gain 30 more wins?
Who ever gave this an upvote is an odiot.
dray16
I bet they can spell idiot though.
SalaryCapMyth
Well oops. Can’t really criticise this though. The irony is to strong with this one.
SpiderManFromMars
The only thing worse than this comment is the 2 upvotes – come on Frank, I never meet someone w/ the same last name and now I’m thinking its for the best…
kaido24
that’s a shame to see him
go down. hope he recovers and is ready for next season
reflect
I wonder if that can be played through. I’m holding out hope. Kneecaps aren’t as important as they sound.
Jordowith
Try running with a broken kneecap or no kneecap and see how that works and why risk ruining his career
vanswanson
You’re an idiot.
DockEllisDee
As someone who’s had a fractured patella I would punch your nuts if you said that to my face. And if you’re trolling I hope you get a fly in your beer. Healing plus PT for a fracture is like two months, mine was shattered and it was 6 months before I could walk normally again
reflect
There’s different kinds of fractures with varying levels of severity and impact.. You probably had a major fracture, or damage to the patella tendon as well.
Many people don’t need that long. Jeff Keppinger fractured his patella in 2008 and was back in just over a month. If it’s a stress fracture or a minor fracture with no dislocation then it is possible he can have a full recovery in time to make a playoff contribution.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Keppinger
fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=3856&posit…
Allen Adams
Altuve had same issue last year after his MVP season. A partial Altuve was still better than no Altuve…
Tom Reither
What terrible thing to happen to a great ballplayer. As a Cardinal fan, I hope the Brewers use this to rally to a wild card spot.
nemolee.exe
Well, they’re going to help us and hurt you by giving us that spot unless you guys suck and they do well and we do well.
thelegendofmike
What?
Bartis
wordonthestreet
As you are a Cardinals fan Tom you are just hoping the Cubs do not make the wild card. You could care less what happens with the Brewers.
But visions of a wild card Cubs team spanking the 100 win Cardinal team out of the playoffs in 2015 is fresh on your mind
themed
Visions of being an over .500 ball club seems much more important than one silly series 5 years ago. Cards compete year after year never lowing their standards by tanking.
fishy14
Yea that’s good and all but if cubs survive and don’t choke this year like last they’d be on there way to DC to meet the nationals and if they win that on there way to LA to play dodgers
Captain Baez
PFFF the way the brew crew makes the playoffs is the cubs spank the cards in most of those 7 games left and see the brewers beat the cards by a game or a half game. Its a real shame what happened to Yellich he is 1 of the games brightest superstars and a absolute steal when the brewers got him in the 1st place. Yellich is also a real class act and great representitive of baseball in general. Sorry about that real bad luck brewers fans.
dray16
that’s a shame
chuck123
Like Monty Python Black Knight? ‘‘Tis but a scratch”
nemolee.exe
Seems like there is no hope for the Brew Crew. At this point, even if my Cubs take 1st Place in the division, the Cards would be in the playoffs anyway.
chicagofan1978
That second wildcard slot is up for grabs. The Nats are faltering a bit too so who knows. These playoffs are gonna be a **** show this year in the National League
bobtillman
Easily one of the most watchable players in MLB…..excellent performer all around. Tough for the Brew-Crew…..
OTOH, now he has more time for doing his part time job, baring his assets……
xSpecBx
Just for the hell of it I went and looked up what Yelich is getting paid. He’s not even making $10M this year. Talk about surplus value. He is probably a top 3 position player in the league right now. Shame to see this happen to him. Just this morning on MLB radio his manager was talking about what a great all around player he is.
chicagofan1978
Damn the dead birds catching all the breaks this year huh? ( and before anyone says anything I’m a Sox fan but I can’t stand the Cardinals and their annoying fans so save your Cubs crap for someone else )
Banesays
I have way more respect for you than the other “Sox fans” who are really trolls. 100% agree with you.
themed
You make your own breaks son
themed
You make your own breaks. Usually I like Sox fans but you seem a annoying.
themed
I’m not sure why my comments get pulled. You let this ignorant guy get away with calling the greatest NL franchise in History dead birds but you keep yanking my comments. Doesn’t make sense. Are you refusing my right of free speech here or what?
Dotnet22
Classy
Bunselpower
And yet, of all the fans here, you are the only one to disparage an entire fanbase based on their team…
joester12
And my season is over
Cam
Well, looks like it’s Belli’s MVP to lose now.
murphydog
Maybe. But Yelich and Rendon still have some to say. And Yelich has the better OPS.
Yankeedynasty
Did you not read my he headline?Yelich is our for the year
No Soup For Yu!
Being taken out of the season early doesn’t automatically preclude someone from award voting.
spudchukar
When it is as close as this year’s race, it does. Happened to be watching the game, and I was not surprised by the news. It looked serious when it occurred. A slider that bored in on Yelich causing the unusual foul angle. Get well soon Christian, you are fun to watch, and this comes from a Red Bird fan.
Robnessa
From a Reds fan, This is Terrible News and Prayers to Yelich on a speedy recovery.
mac1brad
Lifelong Cardinals fan but appreciate how great a player he has become the last couple of seasons. Really hate to see this happen to such a great player.
Prunella Vulgaris
Poor guy. I hope he has good pain killers, and makes a full recovery.
Blue_Painted_Dreams_LA
What the F. This sucks! It’s never good for the league when guys get hurt. Especially this close to playoff run. Terrible news.
themed
Hate to see this happen. Milwaukee is no doubt my second favorite NL Central team. I doubt they would have caught the Cardinals but it may hurt their chances of catching the cubs. Another break for the cubs.
DarkSide830
guess this is Acunas MVP award vote chance
Cubbie75
Truly sorry to hear this. I love watching him play.
Backup Catcher to the Backup Catcher
Bad for the Brewers and bad for about a million fantasy teams who own Yelich and are in contention for top cheese. Seriously, when the NL’s top player goes down, it’s not good by any measure.
But don’t be so quick to count out the Brewers’ wild-card hopes. None of the current contenders are without their share of pimples. Teams that suffer an injury to a key player sometimes rally around their misfortune and play better.
Counsel is really going to have to mix and match on an inning by inning basis and use the entire September-bloated roster. Not an easy assignment, but he’s a smart dude so I expect he’ll pullout all stops.
Grisham still looks a bit rough around the edges, but I guess he’ll be the primary RF now. Maybe see more of H. Perez, too.
Rusty C
I am always amazed at how unfunny people are when they try to be clever.
cubfanforever
Cub fan here but sorry to hear this about Yelich.
Heck of a great all around player and having a fabulous second straight season. Hope he fully recovers with no lingering effects.
brewcrewenthusiast
It took me a long time to be able to wrap my head around this. losing hiura and moose for a bit, ok we can deal. This has to be the blow that ends them. What a crap way to end the season. They were just making a strong push too. My heart sank. Still sinking probably. I shouldnt be this sad about a baseball player and his team, but here I am.
bjhaas1977
This will be pretty funny if McNeil wins the batting title.
dray16
Put on the red light — Roxanne!
put on the red light — Roxanne
put on the red light
put on the red light
uncle mike
Yelich has brightened the game for 2 years now!!
Tough luck for him and the Brewers. I would hope his statistics will hold up to win him a second NL MVP Award.
Ichiro51
Even thought I’m a Yankee fan. I would’ve loved to see Yelich get the MVP. He’s such a good player.
Bbrom
Yell ouch!
mack22 2
Really sorry to hear this about Yelich, and Frankly wanted to see Belli win the MVP going to the end of the season, like Matt Kemp & Ryan Braun did in 2011. Only this time cheating would be out of it.
spudchukar
Brewers still have a legitimate shot at the WC, but hard to see them advancing very far without Yelich.
Cheeseman Forever
Was watching live as it happened. Obvious from his reaction and body language that he knew something was seriously wrong…not just a contusion or bone bruise. Just awful — but to the team’s credit, they pulled out a win without him, even though they all knew by the 4th inning what happened to their MVP.
To Brewer fans, Yeli more than a great player…also a grounded and humble human being.
sherlock_
Brewers: DONE
themed
Sorry to hear this. Yelich is one of today’s true superstars. Hope he recovers fast and bounces back next spring with no lingering problems. Great player!
MinorLeagueFan
Great player, sad to see him out. Hope he heals up and comes back strong next year.
TradeAcuna
Surprised no one sent their worthless prayers and condolences!
VegasSDfan
Thoughts and prayers!
VegasSDfan
If the Brewers make the playoffs, I bet he plays. He wont be feeling full speed, but even partial speed would help
gregstruth89
Not god