First, Yan Gomes went down less than a week into the new season, which put the Cleveland Indians behind the eightball. Now, the team will have to deal with the absence of Jason Kipnis.
Continue for updates.
Kipnis Headed to Disabled List
Monday, Aug. 3
According to Northeast Ohio Media Group's Paul Hoynes, Kipnis is suffering from a sore right shoulder, and Jose Ramirez will replace him on the active roster.
Expectations were high for the Indians in 2015. Sports Illustrated chose Cleveland to win the World Series, which many fans saw as the kiss of death after SI's now-infamous cover singing the praises of a team that would go on to finish 73-89 in 1987:
The Indians have suffered from myriad problems this year. The offense hasn't quite clicked, and the defense has been almost an entirely new brand of awful.
Kipnis has been one of the few constants. He hit a scorching .429 in May with four home runs and 17 runs batted in and followed it up by hitting .358 in June. As a result, the 28-year-old has been the most valuable second baseman in baseball, per FanGraphs.
Taking Kipnis' bat out of the lineup obviously hurts Cleveland, but in truth, the Indians might have been doomed even before this injury. Their playoff odds weren't exactly high heading into Monday—5.8 percent, according to Baseball Prospectus.
Losing Kipnis for a prolonged period may be the final nail in the coffin for their postseason hopes.
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