Weekend BP: Brandon Belt to undergo season-ending knee surgery

Good morning, baseball fans.

Knowing something is likely to happen can never quite prepare you for the thing actually happening. And that is the case today, as the San Francisco Giants will be without their first baseman and unofficial (but totally official) captain, Brandon Belt, for the remainder of the season. At a minimum.

Belt has been struggling with knee inflammation and pain for most of the season without improvement despite multiple trips to the injured list and various treatment attempts. He will be undergoing surgery today.

If this was five years ago, I wouldn’t be worried. It’s September of a lost season. I’d rather he take the time to get the procedure now and be back and healthy next season. And that is, indeed, his hope. He’s had this procedure before in 2015 and it helped a lot.

That said, in 2015, he wasn’t 34 years old. Or a free agent at the end of the season. Also, Buster Posey hadn’t recently and suddenly retired due to compiling injury history to add to my anxiety about having seen Belt play in his final game and not realizing it.

Belt told NBC Sports Bay Area’s Alex Pavlovic that he would like to continue playing if he can. But it will depend on how his knee feels.

I’m going to try to be an optimist and not get too sad until we see how the offseason plays out.

What time do the Giants play this weekend?

The Giants continue their three-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies today and tomorrow at 1:05 p.m. PT each before heading off to (hopefully) beat L.A. on Monday.