You hear it all the time – especially if you’re a Dodger fan. A player gets injured, leaves the field, has an X-ray and/or an MRI which invariably comes back “negative” and then we are told that the player is listed as “day to day.” This is usually followed by Dodgers broadcaster Charlie Steiner proclaiming (ad nauseam) “but aren’t we all.”

But what exactly does “day to day” mean – at least in the context in which the Dodgers so frequently use it?

In the literal sense you would think that “day to day” would mean that the player’s injury is so minor that they could return to the lineup as early as the next day, or the following day, or at worst the third or fourth day, right? Yet when have we ever seen a player who was said to be “day to day” actually return in less than a week?

We all get that hope springs eternal and that there is indeed power in positive thinking, but why the charade?

When Corey Seager sprained his left knee on March 11, he was listed as “day to day.” That was 11 days ago with Opening Day now only 13 days away. This isn’t day to day, it’s week to week.

Even though Seager resumed baseball activities just this past Sunday, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts is confident that he will be ready on Opening Day. (Photo credit – Jon SooHoo)

And what about Andre Ethier? If watching him foul a ball off his right leg last Friday didn’t make you cringe and immediately think that he’d be lost for at least two weeks (or longer), then you were kidding yourself. Yes, Ethier seems to foul more balls off his legs than anyone else on the team, but you could tell right away that this was a bad one; so bad, in fact, that he had to be taken to the Dodgers clubhouse on a cart. Yet after the X-rays came back negative (thankfully), we were once again told that he was “day to day” – this in spite of the fact that three days later he was still hobbling around on crutches, prompting this tweet from Dodgers beat writer Ken Gurnick:

Lo and behold, not four hours after Gurnick’s tweet, the veteran MLB.com writer reported this about the soon-to-be 34-year-old Dodgers outfielder:

“Dodgers outfielder Andre Ethier, still on crutches three days after fouling a pitch off his right shin, will have a bone scan taken Monday. Ethier was originally expected to miss two or three days, but the pain has persisted and the club wants the added test to look for damage that wasn’t seen in the initial X-ray. Opening Day is two weeks away.”

So much for “day to day.”

It was immediately obvious that Ethier’s injury was going to be more than “day to day.”
(Photo credit – Jon SooHoo)

As Dodger fans we all can appreciate Dodgers manager Dave Roberts (and the entire Dodgers front office) trying to project a positive and optimistic attitude, even in times of difficulty. But continuing to blow sunshine up our noses when it is blatantly obvious that there really is no such thing as “day to day” basically amounts to lying to the media and Dodger fans. You’re either injured and can’t play or you’re not and can, it’s as simple as that. There’s no need for the subterfuge.

We’re all grownups here. Please stop trying to sugarcoat the truth and tell it like it is instead of spreading false hope. Why not say something like: Ethier’s X-rays did not indicate a fracture but at this time we don’t know how long he will be out or if he will make the Opening Day lineup.” No false hopes, no fluff, no BS, just the cold hard truth – good or bad.