Brewers can’t afford to lose Christian Yelich in tight NL race

The Milwaukee Brewers have to hope that Christian Yelich can stay healthy, because without him, the Brew Crew would be in trouble heading into the summer.

At 47-33, the Brewers are in a very unusual position. They have the best record in the National League. Milwaukee sits 2.5 games ahead of the Chicago Cubs in the NL Central, but suddenly problems could be on the horizon.

On Thursday, the Brewers mashed their way to another win over the Cincinnati Reds, but Christian Yelich was forced to leave early with tightness in his lower back. Yelich talked about the ailment after the game, believing it isn’t too serious.

“It’s been about three years, but I kind of knew the feeling,” he said. “It’s kind of looking like this one’s not as bad. We’ll see. It depends on the next 24 hours.”

Still, Yelich has been susceptible to injuries in the past. As outlined in the ESPN story, the outfielder was placed on the DL with a back injury in 2015 while with the Miami Marlins. This season, Yelich began the season on the shelf, recovering from an oblique injury.

The Brewers are already without center fielder Lorenzo Cain, who is on the DL with a groin strain. While Cain could be back at some point next week, the absence of both he and Yelich would be devastating to the top of the order. Cain is hitting .291 with 16 steals, while Yelich is batting .289 with 11 homers and 10 swiped bags.

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While the duo recovers, the Brewers have to rely even more on breakout star Jesus Aguilar. The 27-year-old is leading Milwaukee in almost every hitting category with a .313 mark alongside 19 home runs and 54 RBI.

On the mound, the Brewers need to keep pace with the loaded Cubs and ever-dangerous St. Louis Cardinals. Milwaukee has an underwhelming rotation led by Junior Guerra and Jhoulys Chacin, but it’s done enough to this juncture.