The Brewers will have to make it through the stretch run without one of their best players.
Outfielder Christian Yelich is scheduled to undergo season-ending surgery on Friday after twice landing on the injured list this season with back issues.
Yelich, 32, opened up about the situation in an emotional video posted to his X account on Thursday.
“It just got to the point where it wasn’t getting better,” he said. “Tried everything I could, ran out of options and it became time to make a decision. … It sucks. There’s really no other way to put it other than it sucks. It’s terrible. But it’s part of sports. These things happen. You get hurt, you get fixed and you get back out there. Try to stay as positive as possible about it. It’s going to be for the best.”
Yelich, the 2018 National League MVPn has had lingering back issues during his career, but he was hitting his stride again this year with a .315/.406/.504 slash line with 11 home runs.
The effort earned him a starting spot in the All-Star Game in Texas, as he hit sixth for the National League.
But he went back on the injured list shortly thereafter on July 24 with lower-back inflammation.
In a statement released by the Brewers, Yelich said he expects to be back at “100 percent” for next year.
The Brewers, now 69-52 after a Thursday win over the vaunted Dodgers, are 9.0 games up in the National League Central.
They would, as things stand, be the third-best division leader in the NL, meaning Milwaukee would have to play a best-of-3 wild card series if the season ended Thursday.
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