No-No Joe is a no-no go for the rest of the Padres playoff run.
Joe Musgrove will not pitch in the upcoming National League Division Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers or any other playoff games this season.
Padres President of Baseball Operations A.J. Preller announced Friday afternoon that Musgrove has a UCL injury to his right pitching elbow and will undergo Tommy John surgery.
The right-hander has an ulnar collateral ligament injury, with recovery typically taking 12-18 months, meaning Musgrove could miss the entire 2025 season.
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“I'm devastated about not being able to finish what we started,” an emotional Musgrove said in the Padres dugout. “It's just a matter of coming to grips with that this is it for me.”
Musgrove said he would reach out to players who've had Tommy John surgery to learn more. The procedure involves reattaching a tendon from another part of the body to the elbow.
“I don't know when the surgery will be. I'd like to get it sooner rather than later,” he said. “I'm going to be supporting the hell out of these guys.”
Musgrove is the latest in a series of MLB pitchers who've sustained UCL injuries this season, including Atlanta's Spencer Strider, Cleveland's Shane Bieber and Toronto's Alek Manoah.
Padres Playoff Run
During Friday's NLDS preview press conference in Los Angeles, the first question to Padres Manager Mike Shildt was about the health of Musgrove.
"He's not going to participate in this series," said Shildt.
When asked if Musgrove could pitch later in the playoffs, Shildt said, "We'll just leave it at that for now." Shildt added that the Padres would provide an update later Friday, and that update came shortly after with Preller's announcement.
Musgrove left Wednesday's NL Wild Card playoff game against the Atlanta Braves with a right elbow injury. He threw two slow curveballs to fall behind 2-1 on Atlanta's Matt Olson with two outs in the fourth and was visited by pitching coach Ruben Niebla. Shildt and an athletic trainer joined them, and Musgrove came out.
“If you’re not a pitcher, it’s very difficult to explain. I just had a hard time getting to full extension and letting pitches go,” Musgrove said Wednesday. “There wasn’t a whole lot of confidence behind it. I had two outs in the inning. I was hoping to be able to get through the inning and then address it in between, but I didn’t make it to that point.”
Musgrove missed a couple of months in the middle of the season dealing with a bone spur in his pitching elbow. The pitcher took a platelet-rich plasma injection and a cortisone shot to ease the inflammation, and -- since coming back in August -- was one of the best pitchers in the National League.
After Wednesday's game, Musgrove expressed optimism that he could pitch again this postseason.
The Padres play Game 1 of the NLDS on Saturday in Los Angeles against the Dodgers in the best-of-five series. This will be the third time in the past four seasons that the two teams have played against each other in the playoffs, with the Dodgers winning once and the Padres winning once.
Losing Musgrove is a blow. The native of El Cajon is revered by Padres fans for throwing the first no-hitter in franchise history in 2021.
Preller said, “We're definitely not here if it's not for Joe Musgrove.”
“He’s a special individual, but I can tell you we’ll be just fine and compete,” Shildt said. “He’ll be in our hearts but won’t be with us on the mound.”
The Padres will start right-hander Dylan Cease in Game 1, followed by righty Yu Darvish in Game 2.
“He’s a great leader, great teammate,” Cease said of Musgrove. “He’ll be with us in other ways.”
