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Did Yoenis Cespedes injure shoulder playing golf before game? (Probably not)

October 22, 2015

If you're a Mets fan, you are thrilled that your team is going to its first World Series in 15 years, this after locking down a sweep of the Chicago Cubs Wednesday night in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series.

Less thrilling is the final seven innings of the team's 8-3 win were played without star center fielder Yoenis Cespedes, who left the game in the second inning with soreness in his left shoulder. Was golf involved? Sort of.

Yes, it turns out that Cespedes had played Medinah Country Club the morning of Game 4, which should raise the ire of baseball fans who think the slugger should have spent the hours before the game in some protective cocoon.

But Cespedes said the injury had nothing to do with his morning round, and that he often plays golf the mornings before night games.

“On the contrary,” Cespedes told the New York Post.“[Golf] is what really helps me with my swing in baseball.”

Cespedes has been open about his recent golf obsession. He started the game less than two years ago, and already (misguidedly) has eyes on a pro career after he's through with baseball.

“Well, I’ve been playing golf for only a year and a half,” he told the New York Daily News. “Some people who have been playing golf for years learn that I’ve only played a year and a half, they can’t believe it and they say, 'incredible.' I've been thinking about it — if there is an opportunity to play professionally later, maybe not PGA, but I would like to play golf professionally.”

Either way, the Mets says Cespedes, who had 35 home runs this season, will be ready for the World Series when it begins next Tuesday. More pressing is who the Mets will play -- the Toronto Blue Jays or Kansas City. Cespedes surely has tee times lined up in both cities just to be safe.