The race to the playoffs has become a slog of attrition. It’s late August and the Major League Baseball landscape is littered with the remains of the mediocre. At the halfway point, a half-dozen teams looked likely to win 100 games; now, that number may be zero by the end of September.
Of course, excuses abound – many of them valid. MLB’s injured list has been well-decorated with star pitchers since the first week of the season, but as the stretch drive unfolds, it’s clear some teams have been hit harder than others. With that, a look at the nine contenders who have been crushed the most by injuries – and the prognosis for better health as the season unwinds: 1.
Atlanta Braves Gone for good : RH Spencer Strider (reconstructive elbow surgery, April 13 ); OF Ronald Acuña Jr. (torn right ACL, May 26 ); LHP A.J.
Minter (hip surgery, Aug. 13 ) Follow every MLB game: Latest MLB scores, stats, schedules and standings. It’s been a while : 2B Ozzie Albies (left wrist fracture, July 21 , out until mid-September); 3B Austin Riley (right hand fracture, Aug.
19 , out for rest of regular season). Short-term pain : OF Jorge Soler (hamstring, day-to-day); C Travis d’Arnaud (wrist, day-to-day). Outlook : They were the leaders in the clubhouse in this category with Strider and Acuña’s demises, and then Albies and Riley’s fractures further decimated the lineup.
The good news: Pitchers Max Fried and Reynaldo Lopez are back off the IL. The bad news: They have just a two-game.