The Milwaukee Brewers, who are leading the National League Central, will have to continue their playoff push without Christian Yelich.
Yelich is scheduled for season-ending back surgery on Friday, which will end the 2018 NL MVP’s strong season. At the time he went on the injured list in late July, Yelich was leading the NL with a .315 batting average and a .406 on-base percentage.
He hasn’t played since he was taken out of a game at Chicago’s Wrigley Field on July 23. Yelich has been dealing with back issues for several years, and this season, the problem led him to be on the injured list twice.
The 32-year-old Yelich said in a video posted on social media Thursday that surgery “was just the best option that we really had left.”
He explained, “It just got to the point where it wasn’t getting better.
I tried everything I could, ran out of options and it came time to make a decision.”
The Brewers have announced that Dr. Brandon Rebholz will perform the surgery in Milwaukee.
Yelich commented, “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.”
Yelich was having his best season since his first two years in Milwaukee, during which he won the NL MVP in 2018 and finished second in the 2019 MVP voting.
He was selected for the All-Star Game for the third time this season and had 11 home runs, 42 RBIs, and 21 steals in 73 games despite his back problems.
Brewers manager Pat Murphy has praised Yelich for the leadership he has shown to a young team that has remained at the top of the NL Central since the end of April despite numerous injuries.
The Brewers will be missing Yelich’s leadership as they pursue their first World Series title in franchise history.
