Max Muncy dislocated his left elbow, will miss NL wild card game & likely much more

Dodgers first baseman Max Muncy won’t play in the National League wild card game, after suffering a dislocated left elbow on Sunday. There is no tear of his ulnar collateral ligament, but there is damage to the elbow joint, the extent of which will be known in the next few days.

It remains unlikely Muncy will play this postseason, though neither the Dodgers nor Muncy are ready to officially rule him out just yet.

“If I’m not hopeful, then it’s it’s gonna be a rough couple of weeks for me. I’ll just go in there and work as hard as I can, and do whatever I can to get back healthy,” Muncy said while wearing a brace on his left arm during Tuesday’s workout at Dodger Stadium. “It’d be nice just to help out in any way, shape, or form but I don’t know what the realistic option is.”

“We’re still trying to hold out a glimmer of hope that he’ll be able to join us later in the postseason,” manager Dave Roberts said. “It’s something we feel that with time and rehab he’ll be fine and back to normal. But what it means for the next four weeks, that’s what we’re waiting on now.”

Muncy injured the elbow in a third-inning collision at first base, trying to field a throw in the baseline as Brewers infielder Jace Peterson arrived at the bag. After losing his glove and the ball on impact, Muncy crumpled to the ground, writhing in pain. He walked off the field gingerly holding his left arm.

Postgame X-rays and testing proved unclear, other than Roberts characterizing it as deeper than a soft tissue injury for Muncy.

“I did dislocate my elbow on the play, and it did pop back in while I was rolling on the ground. There was some other damage in there. We’re going to know more in the next couple days about that, but that was a very scary moment. It definitely felt like my arm wasn’t there, but thankfully things aren’t as bad as what they could have been.”

Muncy was named an All-Star for the second time in 2021, and set a career high with 36 home runs, hitting .249/.368/.527 with a team-leading 94 runs batted in and 95 runs scored. Muncy was also above average defensively at both first base (+6 in Defensive Runs Saved, +9 in Total Zone Rating) and second base (+2 in Defensive Runs Saved, +3 in Total Zone Rating).

“He’s just such a dynamic player, in the batter’s box, defensively,” manager Dave Roberts said. “He just adds a lot to our ball club.”

But for now, and possibly all of October, Muncy will be a spectator.