Brewers News: Christian Yelich's resurgent MVP-caliber season could be cut short

The Milwaukee Brewers continue to receive more and more bad news on the injury front. The latest is on superstar outfielder Christian Yelich.

For years now, Yelich has dealt with chronic back injuries. They flare up from time to time and take him off the field for days or weeks at a time. Yelich spent three weeks on the IL earlier this year with a back issue. After that, Yelich returned and played every single day at a very high level, earning his way back to the All Star Game as a starter.

However, since around the All Star Break, Yelich has been dealing with his back flaring up again. Now, after this latest time, Yelich is back on the IL and appears ready to put these back issues behind him.

Yelich has been a crucial piece of this offense all season long. His resurgence has led the Brewers offensive resurgence in 2024. Now, we could have seen Yelich play his last game this season.

Yelich is considering back surgery and will meet with a spine specialist. If he chooses surgery, his season is done. It could solve these chronic back problems and prevent them from happening in the future. That would be the goal at least.

If the Brewers lose Yelich for the remainder of 2024, their offense still is strong. The outfield is in good shape with Garrett Mitchell, Sal Frelick, Jackson Chourio, and Blake Perkins. They don't need to pick someone up to fill Yelich's shoes. Manager Pat Murphy pointed out as well that there's really no one they could go and get to replace Yelich. He is irreplaceable.

This season, Yelich has rebounded to a .315 average with 11 homers, 21 stolen bases, and a .910 OPS. It's his best season since 2019. It's exactly what the Brewers were expecting when they signed him to his massive contract extension in 2020.

A lot of things haven't gone as planned since that extension, and just when things were finally starting to turn Yelich's way, now they've turned against him once more.

Details on a timeline to return to play will be more clear once Yelich sees the spine specialist and decides on if he wants to get surgery or not. There's a chance he'll simply require rehab and rest.

Regardless, it throws a massive wrench into the Brewers plans for this season. They're six games up on the Cardinals in the NL Central and sit in a very good position to make a deep playoff run this year. Losing Yelich for that run would diminish their chances of winning the first World Series in franchise history. It doesn't kill them completely, but it definitely is going to hurt.