Injuries will make Astros’ Alvarez and Blue Jays’Bicherte sideline until the playoffs – or longer
The Astronauts spent almost the entire season missing the superstar version of Yordan Alvarez, first because the 28-year-old Slugger struggled in March and April, and then missed nearly four months because of a fractured in his right hand. He heated up after returning to the roster in late August, but on Monday night he sprained his left ankle, which could have left him side jobs for the rest of the regular season and longer. He isn’t the only American League star to return to the roster during the playoffs, as Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette was ruled out to sprain his left knee the rest of the regular season.
Alvarez was injured in the first inning of Monday night’s game against Houston’s Rangers. He followed Jeremy Peña’s leading single, on a hike on Jack Leiter. Carlos Correa then hits a weak comeback on the mound. Leiter tried to throw the ball on the ground but put the ball well beyond first baseman Jake Burger. Peña scored easily when Adolis García retrieved the ball, but the right fielder’s throwing home almost arrived in time for Nab Alvarez, who did not slip but just slipped on the plate. He immediately started the lim rope, had to be helped into the canoe and did not return to the field – he started on the left field at the end of the half inning. Instead, right fielder Jesús Sánchez moved to the left and Zach Cole entered the game to the right. Cole made a 6-3 victory when he made a savage Hurston Waldrep in his first major league game on Sept. 12, defeating Leiter’s second home run in the fifth.
“I had a front seat when he stepped on the plate,” Peña said after the game. “His ankle was a bit twisted and when he had to plant it again, I saw it twisted again. It wasn’t very pretty. You don’t want to see that, especially Yordan Alvarez. We need him.”
You can check out the video about the script here, but if you want to look for shots of Alvarez’s legs bent in a way that shouldn’t be, you’ll be alone. Colleague Dan Szymborski cited Stretch Armstrong on the team that has been most affected by injuries this year, which should give you an idea.
Alvarez put Daikin Park on a cane and on walking boots on Tuesday and had an MRI on Tuesday. Manager Joe Espada called the sprain “very important” but did not say whether the Astronauts put him on the injured list or provide a timeline for his return.
“This will make him leave for the time being,” Espada told reporters. “We don’t go into days, weeks, any one. It takes a day at a time, but it takes some time to heal.”
“This is Level II [sprain]I was told by a trusted source that swelling is direct and important. ”no A high ankle sprain, but a standard ankle sprain, even at the low end of standard return time, Alvarez will make the playoffs. Usually, this is a three to six-week offer, and his case has complications.
It was a big blow for the Astros (84-69), who crossed the Mariners (83-69) on Wednesday and won the season in the process by completing three games in Houston. As I pointed out in my opinion on the playoff pictures on Wednesday, Houston led the division with 3 1/2 games as of September 5, but lost to the Seaman 6-4 in that time, who won 10 straight games. Seattle’s winning streak finally lost to the royal family on Wednesday night.
Schedule, the wildcard rounds started on September 30 last Tuesday, respectively, the divisional series on October 4, and are still within the three-week best case Senario window. The ALCS is scheduled to start on October 12 and the World Series will begin on October 24, with the latter dates far below the injury point.
Before landing on IL on May 5, Alvarez hit only .210/.306/.340 (74 WRC+), initially diagnosed as a muscle strain on the right hand. In late May, after his recovery was setback, the team – probably the most professionally closest behavior in terms of particularity to injury – showed that he had actually broken his fourth mastery of the metacarpal bone, but the bones had healed 60%. He suffered another setback in early July and returned to the roster only on August 26. In his 78 set appearance since his return, he hit .369/.462/.569 (183 WRC+) with three home runs, even though he entered a 21-40 tension in 18 games Monday with a 2-18 downturn.
Elite batsmen won’t grow on trees as Alvarez’s previous absence reminded the Astronauts, and Szymborski estimates that this is the biggest influence of the Grand Slam in the 2025 War (3.3), and because of all their injuries, the Astronauts lost the war at 17.6, which is particularly serious in pitching. Even with 32-game batsmen including Alvarez, the team’s DHS combined to win 85 WRC+ (.227/.291/.383), the fifth time in the Grand Slam. Jose Altuve is the most effective DH fill, hitting .268/.332/.484 (124 WRC+) in 211 sets while keeping Astros’ defenses improving as his metrics on second base and left are cruel. Espada also relies heavily on any receivers that didn’t start that day, but Victor Caratini (.180/.261/.290, 55 wrc+ in 115 pa in 115 Pa) and Yainer Diaz (.206/.240/.240/.258, 34 wrc+ in 104 pa in 104 pa as a dh as dh) are about the same. Alvarez himself had only nine out of the 19 games he played after he returned, and Manning also left nine games and hit one. Like DH, the left field has always been a pain point for Astronauts. Their players at the position (including Altuve in 45 games) hit .230/.309/.359 (86 WRC+), with the last being the seventh low mark at the position. In the two games since Alvarez’s injury, Diaz and Caratini have assigned DH and Catcher responsibilities to the right (Merrill Kelly and Jacob Degrom), while Altuve is second, Sánchez is left and Cole is right.
Although Espada may move these fragments, Cole is the beneficiary of the most likely increase in game time in Alvarez’s absence. The 25-year-old left-wing wielding the 25-year-old team selected Ball State University in the 10th round of 2022, hitting a total of .279/.377/.539 (151 WRC+) (151 WRC+) (151 WRC+), 19 home runs in 82 games at Double-A Corpus Corpus Corpus, 18 steals in Double-A Corpus, and summoned Triple-A Round Rock in late August. In his first six games in the Grand Slam, he hit .333/.429/.667 (201 WRC+) in 21 sets, but also played 7 times.
These strikeouts are Cole’s problem. Just in the All-Star Game, Eric Longenhagen rated Cole as a 35+ FV prospect based on reservations for his popular tools, with his current values of 30 and 35 fv (who other media agree). Longenhagen impressed Cole’s running (60) and throwing (70). Here is the report:
Cole barely competed in the first two years at Ball State, then broke into enough games as a junior to get the 10th round option. Now, he pushes 25 and threads too much to be attractive, but too well-crafted to predict him to achieve his addition to original pop. Cole’s lightweight and long-distance range can play a passable midfielder, while the cannon is a defensive asset to the right. His eyes are nice, big juice and enough loft to leave the yard in any direction. But it was a long swing with an inaccurate barrel. Cole is repeating Double-A and repeating his 38% strikeout rate, which is largely driven by within-region. This flawed hit tool might quit Cole’s resignation and become the fifth outfielder on the upper and lower levels, but the genre’s strength is incredible, or mixing it all together.
By the time he was summoned, Cole’s strikeout efficiency did drop to 35.1%, but it’s still shocking. Even so, at least in the short term, the occasional knock can offset those dilemmas, which is not a problem.
As for Bichette, he sprained the posterior ligament of his left knee on September 6, when he collided with Yankees Catcher Austin Wells, and the plate in the sixth inning was thrown onto the plate. He finished the game but had an MRI a few days later revealed a sprain, so he was placed on the IL traceback on September 7. The Blue Jays did not provide a schedule for his return at the time.
The 27-year-old shortstop made a second opinion from Dallas’s Dr. Dan Cooper on Monday. “In addition to scrutinizing the diagnosis, Bichette and Blue Jays hope to look forward to this injury to ensure his ultimate recovery will not bring any additional risks or stumbling blocks.”
“The first one was confirmed [diagnosis] “It’s just a sprain in his knee, without any further requests. It’s a break and recovery and then come back as soon as possible,” manager John Schneider said Tuesday. For this, Bichette won’t play again in the regular season, but may resume baseball later this week.
After a bleak 2024 season, he reached .225/.277/.322 (70 WRC+) and was limited to 81 games due to right leg pressure and right middle finger fracture (one season lasted for one season, he returned to two months of IL from two months of IL, and Bichette hit a strong .311/.311/.311/.311/.357/.357/.444.483 (133). He is a waiting free agent, and while this will be his fourth time in the last six seasons to help the Blue Jays into the playoffs, they have yet to win a single playoff on his watch.
With Bichette’s elimination, the Blue Jays have moved Ernie Clement and Andrés Giménez (both powerful guards at second base) to shortstops, sometimes pairing two and other times on the second time with Isiah Kiner-Falefa or Davis Schneider. They are willing to consider using Bichette as a designated hitter before preparing for defense. At least according to this year’s indicators (-12 drs, -10 frv), this is not a big loss. Such a configuration will change the defensive pressure by bringing George Springer back to the outfield. His right is 32 games, 9 games on the left, 8 games on the center, and 79 games on the DH. His defensive metrics are not good (combined -8 drs, -7 frv), especially on the right, but he at least offers a variety of options for the Blue Jays.
“In a perfect world, if [Bichette] Schneider said earlier this week. “With his movements, it seems to me that hitting seems a little bit in front of everything else…. If we can get his bat back, yes, I’ll take it.” The manager believes that, as Matheson sums up, Bichette’s athleticism will help him adapt to his swing:
Bichette is known for his large sporty leg kicks, but it is also easier for his front toe to stay on the ground. Bichette’s swing is as versatile as anyone in a baseball game, so if the power doesn’t come from his lead legs, it could come from his body and the torque of his quick hands. If nothing else, it’s worth a try.
While the Astros are still playing the playoffs, the Blue Jays sail relatively smoothly for the rest of the regular season. At 89-63, they won four games with the Yankees (85-67) of Al East and the Yankees (85-67) of the Tigers (85-67). They won the season series of both teams (winning the game 4-3 against the Yankees against the Tigers), and if things start sideways, they give them an extra buffer. The extra few days resulting from winning goodbye can only help Bichette.
As the playoffs approach, it is especially disturbing when the star players fall. We want to see the team striving for the championship with great chances of getting hurt. Unfortunately, the body doesn’t always work towards this purpose, and while both the Astronauts and the Blue Jays are brave enough to face these injuries, the short series is imminent, but it’s totally impossible for us to see more Alvarez and Bichette can do.
