Christian Yelich Injury Should Shut Door on NL Wild Card Race
By Michael Luciano
Back at his old stomping grounds in Miami, Brewers superstar and 2018 MVP Christian Yelich saw the door slammed shut on both his campaign to repeat as MVP and Milwaukee's push to the postseason with one unfortunate injury.
Yelich will miss the remainder of the 2019 season after fracturing his knee cap against the Miami Marlins after fouling a pitch off his knee.
Yelich has enough PAs to finish 2019 as a qualified hitter. That means he set these single-season Brewers records:
— Adam McCalvy (@AdamMcCalvy) September 11, 2019
172 wRC+ (tops 2011 Braun’s 171)
.441 wOBA (1987 Molitor, .433)
1.100 OPS (2009 Fielder, 1.014)
.671 SLG (2007 Fielder, .618)
11.11 AB/HR (2007 Fielder, 11.46)
With a .329/.429/.671 triple slash, the latter two which lead the NL, Yelich also managed to hit 44 home runs, drive in 97 runs and steal 30 bases, all while leading the bigs with a 178 OPS+.
The Brewers are kidding themselves if they think they can still push for a postseason spot. Their lineup is deep, but losing Yelich is too much to overcome.
They have Josh Hader in the bullpen, but inconsistency before him and flat out disappointing performances from the majority of the starting rotation is a hinderance. They needed Yelich to put the team on his back and carry them to the promised land, and his knee injury makes that impossible.
This doctor's projected timeline is 4-6 months if Yelich doesn't need surgery and 9-11 months if he does.
— Reviewing the Brew (@ReviewngTheBrew) September 11, 2019
Here's hoping he doesn't need surgery https://t.co/pcxtA8LeTh
Fingers crossed that Yelich doesn't need surgery and can suit up in 2020, because the Brewers have no shot without him.