In what world do an injury to one of baseball’s best lead to baseball’s best month and a playoff berth? A world where the Milwaukee Brewers #DoItForYeli.
We are going to take a trip back in time. Way back to August 30th and the Milwaukee Brewers lost a game to the rival Chicago Cubs by the score of 7-1 to make their record on the season a disappointing 68-66 and at five games behind the Cubbies.
Things are looking pretty bleak in the Cream City.
Forward to September 10th and those same Brewers are doing well for themselves early on in the season’s final month and things are looking up, with six of their first eight games ending in victories, including their series opener in Miami.
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Then, everything changed.
Superstar outfielder and reigning National League MVP Christian Yelich fouled a ball off his right knee in his first at-bat of that September 10th game, an injury that would keep him out of the game for the rest of the season as he fractured his kneecap.
As to how this affected the team in the immediate term, they struggled mightily for a few innings without any baserunners. Around that time it was reported the team had found out about the injury’s extent before finally breaking through in the ninth inning to win 4-3.
After the contest, doom and gloom was very much present on social media with many proclaiming the season was over for Milwaukee. However, there was an equally solid portion of the fanbase who rallied around a certain hashtag cry of #DoItForYeli.
Now, this turn of events certainly does not compare to those of players such as Carlos Carrasco, Chad Bettis and Jameson Taillon (all cancer patients at one time), but an injury such as Yelich’s can certainly force a team to rise up or fold.
The Milwaukee Brewers chose to rise up.
Even taking into account a sweep suffered against the Colorado Rockies to end the season, Milwaukee managed to rally all the way back to 89-73 on the season by winning 21 of their final 28 games.
While they did fail to secure the division, they did capture a playoff berth that just a few short weeks ago seemed impossible. The fans stayed right with them, packing Miller Park down the stretch to finish the year with over 2,900,000 fans making their way through Milwaukee’s turnstiles.
While this may not be an indicator of any potential postseason success or otherwise for the Brewers, sometimes getting there is simply enough, as you never know what could happen once you get in (Cardinals and Giants anyone?)
Happy playoffs folks, it’s the best time of the year.