Injury News: Mariano Rivera Tears ACL

While this may be a Mets blogging website, this is an injury that impacts the entire MLB. I absolutely ABHOR the New York Yankees....However, Mariano Rivera is one of the few that I truly respect. He's a gamer and is arguably the best closer in the history of Baseball. With 608 career saves with the Yankees, he has twice as many saves for ONE team as the next guy, Jeff Montgomery for the Kansas City Royals (304 saves).

While shagging some fly balls off the bat of Alex Rodriguez during batting practice, Mariano jokingly leaped into the air to try to catch a ball and landed awkwardly on his right leg. He immediately went down in immense pain needed the assistance of a wheel cart to get off the field. The Yankees at first reported it as a "twisted knee" however MRI's revealed that he had torn the Anterior Cruciate Ligament in his Knee.

Rivera's season is obviously done for the season but what about his career? ACL injuries are extremely tough to come back from especially for pitchers who's mechanics rely on proper positioning of both the plant and the drive legs. In the interview after the game, Rivera was extremely emotionally and had sounded like he had doubts about whether he would pitch again. Only time and rehab will tell, however, as a BASEBALL fan, this was not the way I wanted to see Mariano Rivera retire.

Get well soon Mariano!!!