The Los Angeles Dodgers are having quite the eventful series against the Chicago White Sox. The Dodgers have taken the first two games of the three-game set. Wednesday’s matchup was historic as Clayton Kershaw cemented himself as the Dodgers’ best pitcher ever by reaching the illustrious three thousand mark. The Dodgers would wind up walking the White Sox off thanks to a Freddie Freeman single.
However, there was a scary play that happened to third baseman Max Muncy when Chicago’s Michael A. Taylor was attempting to take third base, and Taylor slid hard into Muncy’s knee. They would not show replays of it on the broadcast, but following the game, there was video, and the injury looked severe and brutal. Now, 24 hours following the game, Los Angeles received the major injury update on Muncy.
Dodgers’ Max Muncy Headed to IL
In a non-surprising move, the Los Angeles Dodgers are sending Max Muncy to the Injured List. The official diagnosis is a left knee bone bruise. That is semi-good news, considering there was some thought that it could be a torn ACL or a broken knee. The MRI Muncy received was clean, so no structural damage, but he will miss up to six weeks. Muncy is in the midst of an All-Star caliber season, and he may be named as an All-Star this weekend when Major League Baseball announces the reserves for third base. Muncy is hitting .250 this season with thirteen home runs, 55 runs batted in, and a .832 OPS.
The corresponding move was recalling Esteury Ruiz from Triple-A, who led MLB in steals in 2023. They also picked up first baseman CJ Alexander off waivers. The original plan is that Kiké Hernandez will get some playing time at third, and platoonman Tommy Edman will also fill in shortly.
After a tough start with the bat, Muncy made a notable switch in his batting approach. He started wearing glasses. After he started with the glasses, Muncy started to hit for all his power. Muncy has been one of the elite power hitters during his time with the Dodgers. Since 2018, Muncy has four seasons of 35+ home runs. He is also set to be a free agent following this season.
The hope is that Muncy can return for the Dodgers’ September/October run to repeat as World Series Champions. For now, Muncy will rest up the knee, and the Dodger faithful will hope for a speedy and efficient recovery.
Max Muncy Shares Some Words
According to an ESPN article about the injury, Muncy shared some words with the media about how he feels and what happened on the play:
“It was obviously amazing hearing the news that nothing was torn, nothing was ripped. That was obviously a huge sigh of relief for me, but it still sounds too long of a time in my head.”
“It was tough news, but it was also great news in terms of when you look at the play and just the injury that could have happened.”
Muncy also noted that he was upset that he both had to make Kershaw wait during the inning he was trying to meet the strikeout mark, and that he missed it while being in the clubhouse getting X-rays.
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