The Los Angeles Dodgers placed Max Muncy on the 10-day IL with a left knee bone bruise on Thursday, an injury he sustained in the same at-bat as Clayton Kershaw’s 3,000th career strikeout. He later told reporters he expects to be out around six weeks.
Muncy described his prognosis as a “best-case scenario,” with no structural damage shown on his MRI:
“It was tough news, but it was also great news. When you look at the play and the injury that could have happened, we possibly got the best case scenario. There’s no structural damage in there which is huge … The timetable still kinda sucks for me.”
With Kershaw one strikeout away from the exclusive club club, Chicago White Sox center fielder Michael A. Taylor was caught stealing and slid directly into Muncy’s lower left leg. The impact left the 34-year-old writhing on the ground and holding his knee.
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Muncy was eventually helped off the field by a trainer, with a pronounced limp.
Dodgers broadcaster Orel Hershiser later told viewers that Sportsnet LA would not show replay of the injury because of how ugly it was, reporting that Muncy’s knee appeared to bend backward. The Dodgers later announced that Muncy left the game due to left knee pain.
Kershaw reached 3,000 strikeouts later in the at-bat, becoming the 20th MLB player to join the exclusive club. Muncy’s injury took the air out of the Dodger Stadium crowd, but it still gave the southpaw a lengthy standing ovation between innings.
Taylor left the game as well after a partial inning in the field, with the White Sox calling his injury a left trap contusion. The Dodgers won the game 5-4, walking off the White Sox with a three-run rally in the bottom of the ninth.
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Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was optimistic about Muncy’s outlook after the game, and it now appears he has avoided ligament damage, even though he is now out until at least mid-August.
A serious injury for Muncy would have been a significant blow for the Dodgers, who have been working seemingly all season to not even get healthy, but perhaps more like 90%. Muncy has been good enough that he reached reach Phase 2 of the voting for the 2025 MLB All-Star Game before losing out on the NL third-base spot to San Diego Padres star Manny Machado.
Despite not making it as a starter, Muncy has a solid case to make the game as a reserve.
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Muncy turned a dreadful start to the season around after a trip to the eye doctor led to him adopting glasses at the plate. The results were like night and day: .194/.309/.301 and one homer in 29 games before the glasses, .286/.414/.553 and 12 home runs in 51 games after the glasses entering Wednesday. He just finished a month of June in which he ranked second in the majors in OPS at 1.113, behind only Juan Soto.
With Muncy out, the Dodgers are looking at some combination of Kiké Hernández and Miguel Rojas at the hot corner, with top-100 prospect Alex Freeland still waiting in the wings at Triple-A Oklahoma City.
