Brewers: News on Christian Yelich Grim As He Heads Back to IL

Man, just when things looked like they were getting better on the injury front for Christian Yelich and the Brewers.

The former National League MVP returned to the team on Monday after spending three weeks on the injured list with a back issue that has plagued him in the past. He had a solid single in the first inning on his way to finishing the game 2 for 4 in his first game back.

Unfortunately that is where the good news ends. First, Tuesday’s starting lineup was announced with Yelich absent. Then, Brewers fans’ were given the bad news that their star outfielder would be spending another chunk of time away from the club.

With Yelich out, fellow outfielder Tyrone Taylor comes right back to the team after having just been optioned upon Yeli’s reinstatement from the IL yesterday. Taylor has been solid filling in so far in 2021, hitting .323 with a .981 OPS and a pair of home runs.

If this were just a simple case of his injury not quite being fully healed, that would be one thing. But reports from the team’s skipper today makes Yelich’s return to the injured list seem somewhat more worrisome this time around.

This time, there seems to be even more uncertainty for the Brewers surrounding Christian Yelich’s injury.

This latest setback seems to follow the trend that Yelich’s back injury has followed ever since it popped back up. He would make some progress and appear that he was close to returning, and then the next update would see him plateauing in his recovery.

Yelich would end up having an MRI done to see if any additional information about his back could be discovered. When nothing turned up, the club took that lack of news as good news in that no structural damage was revealed.

So it was nice when word broke last weekend that Yelich, as well as outfielder Lorenzo Cain, would be returning to the lineup during the currently ongoing Phillies series. Yelich had to finally be past his injury woes, right? As it turns out, not only is the injury still lingering, the Brewers have no answer for it.

Up to this point in his career, Yelich has been able to solve his back issues, for the most part, with brief periods of rest or a shorter IL stint. Now, it no longer seems as though that strategy will suffice.

Both Yelich and the Brewers need to get this figured out more completely. Any success Milwaukee has, not just in 2021 but in future seasons as well, are tied to the availability of Christian Yelich. If that means more missed games now versus constantly being in and out of the lineup and making the injury worse, so be it.

The baseball world is a better place with Christian Yelich in it. Sadly, that won’t be the case for the near future.