Sometimes baseball is just cruel. Look no further than last year's MVP Jimmy Rollins. For the first time in his career, he's going on the disabled list with a sprained ankle. It's quite a blow for the Phillies and for Jimmy himself. Jimmy's ability is helped greatly by his speed, which a sprained ankle will take away from.

Jimmy Rollins himself understands this:

My game is speed and I don't have much of that now.

A sprained ankle is literally an anchor for a speedster like Rollins. It affects everything about the movement of running and stopping. Laugh if you will, but stopping is an important part of being able to run and push on the basepaths.

What is a sprained ankle? When you tear the ligaments in your ankle you give birth to a sprained ankle. The most common ligament torn is anterior talofibular. 

How do you sprain an ankle? Most of the time a sprained ankle occurs when you roll your ankle. Rolling an ankle is sort of a misnomer as you don't really roll it as much as you bend it. Yes, it is gross to think about. Your ankle is designed to move your foot and control your toes.  

What are the symptoms of a sprained ankle? Pain. Discomfort. You're not going to be able to move the ankle without pain, nor will you be able to put downward pressure on your foot. As time progresses you're going to see swelling and mild bruising. 

How do you treat a sprained ankle? Rest, ice, compression and elevation are the first things to do. The important thing to remember is once swelling is reduced you should begin to introduce range of motion exercises back into your life. You want to avoid not using the ankle at all. 

How long does it take to recover from a sprained ankle? As with everything it depends, but it most cases people will recover within a month. You need to start range of motion exercises and then graduate to more rigorous exercise. There is a school of thought that once you have sprained an ankle you will be more susceptible to future ankle sprains.