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.
Horrible news.
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.
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.
This is really bad for Milwaukee that needed him to try to play at least in the wild card game.
This definitely kneecaps the Brewers’ chances.
It’s pretty brew-tal.
He’ll definitely be Milwauke-eng on crutches for a while. Terrible.
I’m going to kneed you to stop. Their really should be a cap to these comments
all these knee-jerk reactions make me sick
Don’t patella me what I can and cannot say.
*there
These comments are going to make me MVPee
Ouch!
Uhhh…that’s not so good
All that just to end up like that. **** that!
Wave goodbye to the Brewers playoff chances.
Horribly bad news.
Wow that’s got to be a painful one. Bad luck at a critical time for these guys, hope he recovers fine from this.
Bye bye brew crew eh?
Terrible news. Cardinals just wrapped up the division tonight
Lol
Wish ur dad had wrapped up.
heyyoooooo I about spit out my beer
Dude, that’s harsh
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.
Agreed. Quintana pitching lights out again tonight. Another great trade by Theoooooooooooooooooo
What’ve the Sox done for you lately? Oh that’s right, nothing.
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..
And Jimenez a .240 hitter
Cubs suck
That hurts.
I’m a Reds fan bud godd****t that’s awful I was pulling for you guys
F***********************K
This game just isn’t fair man. Get well soon, come back stronger
Still will make the playoffs the cardinals and cubs will choke
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.
Get better soon yeli
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.
Oh come on… the Orioles lol… a “tick above the Orioles” is a AA team… not the Brewers hahaha
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.
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.
I bet they can spell idiot though.
Well oops. Can’t really criticise this though. The irony is to strong with this one.
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…
that’s a shame to see him
go down. hope he recovers and is ready for next season
I wonder if that can be played through. I’m holding out hope. Kneecaps aren’t as important as they sound.
Try running with a broken kneecap or no kneecap and see how that works and why risk ruining his career
You’re an idiot.
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
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.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Keppinger
https://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=3856&position=2B
Altuve had same issue last year after his MVP season. A partial Altuve was still better than no Altuve…
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.
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.
What?
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
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.
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
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.
that’s a shame
Like Monty Python Black Knight? ‘‘Tis but a scratch”
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.
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
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……
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.
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 )
I have way more respect for you than the other “Sox fans” who are really trolls. 100% agree with you.
You make your own breaks son
You make your own breaks. Usually I like Sox fans but you seem a annoying.
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?
Classy
And yet, of all the fans here, you are the only one to disparage an entire fanbase based on their team…
And my season is over
Well, looks like it’s Belli’s MVP to lose now.
Maybe. But Yelich and Rendon still have some to say. And Yelich has the better OPS.
Did you not read my he headline?Yelich is our for the year
Being taken out of the season early doesn’t automatically preclude someone from award voting.
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.
From a Reds fan, This is Terrible News and Prayers to Yelich on a speedy recovery.
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.
Poor guy. I hope he has good pain killers, and makes a full recovery.
What the F. This sucks! It’s never good for the league when guys get hurt. Especially this close to playoff run. Terrible news.
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.
guess this is Acunas MVP award vote chance
Truly sorry to hear this. I love watching him play.
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.
I am always amazed at how unfunny people are when they try to be clever.
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.
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.
This will be pretty funny if McNeil wins the batting title.
Put on the red light — Roxanne!
put on the red light — Roxanne
put on the red light
put on the red light
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.
Even thought I’m a Yankee fan. I would’ve loved to see Yelich get the MVP. He’s such a good player.
Yell ouch!
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.
Brewers still have a legitimate shot at the WC, but hard to see them advancing very far without Yelich.
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.
Brewers: DONE
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!
Great player, sad to see him out. Hope he heals up and comes back strong next year.
Surprised no one sent their worthless prayers and condolences!
Thoughts and prayers!
If the Brewers make the playoffs, I bet he plays. He wont be feeling full speed, but even partial speed would help
Not god