For more than a decade now, Yadier Molina has been a rock behind the plate for the Cardinals, but he can only will himself through so much.
Molina missed the Cardinals' season-ending Game 4 loss to the Cubs in the NL Division Series with a thumb injury he probably shouldn't have been playing through to begin with, and he was set to undergo surgery on his thumb Thursday.
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General manager John Mozeliak told reporters Thursday that Molina wouldn't be able to participate in baseball activities for two to three months but should be ready for spring training in February.
Though the Cardinals looked nothing like a 100-win regular-season team once they stepped into the Cubs buzzsaw, it certainly didn't help their cause to have Molina essentially playing one-handed. He went 1-for-8 in the NLDS after missing the final two weeks of the regular season with a torn ligament in his left thumb.
Manager Mike Matheny said before Game 4 that the injury didn't bother Molina while he was catching but that he could hardly stand to swing a bat.
Though Molina is the Cardinals' all-time leader in postseason games played, with 89, this was the second consecutive postseason the 33-year-old had to shut it down early. He strained his oblique during Game 2 of the 2014 NLCS, and the Giants promptly won the final three games to take the series.
The last time the Cardinals won a postseason game in which Molina did not start behind the plate was Game 7 of the 2004 NLCS against the Astros. The starting catcher for St. Louis that day? Matheny.
