The Toronto Blue Jays will be without Bo Bichette for at least a little while longer.
Blue Jays manager John Schneider announced Tuesday that Bichette has been ruled out for the rest of the regular season due to the knee injury he sustained earlier this month. A timeline for his return is not yet known, but the team is hopeful he can make it back for the postseason.
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If Bichette can’t, it might mean he has already played his last game in a Blue Jays uniform. The shortstop is in the final year of a three-year, $33.6 million deal with Toronto and is set to hit free agency this offseason.
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Bichette went down in the Blue Jays’ loss to the New York Yankees on Sept. 6 as he was trying to beat a throw home.
Bichette slid in and was tagged out by catcher Austin Wells, and he collided hard with Wells’ shin protectors as he did so. Bichette immediately started hopping away, clearly in pain.
Bichette returned to the game after a long rain delay but hasn’t played since. An MRI a few days later revealed the sprain, and the team sent him to the 10-day injured list.
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Bichette currently holds a .311 batting average, which is third-best in Major League Baseball behind only Aaron Judge and Jacob Wilson. He also has 94 RBI and 18 home runs this season, his seventh with Toronto.
The 27-year-old received a second opinion on his leg injury Monday, which Bichette said was “positive,” but he still isn’t ready to take the field. He could resume baseball activities as soon as later this week and might return as the team’s designated hitter before he’s ready to play defense, but further specifics aren’t yet known.
The Blue Jays enter Tuesday’s matchup with the Tampa Bay Rays with an 88-62 record, which is the best in the American League and has them on pace to win the AL East for the first time in a decade. They have 12 games left in the regular season.
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