Despite all of their injuries, the Marlins are still right in the thick of the NL wild-card race. Sunday's win over the Pirates (MIA 3, PIT 2) has Miami sitting 1 1/2 games back of the Cardinals for the second wild-card spot.

Among the many injured Marlins is slugger Giancarlo Stanton, who is out with a Grain 3 groin strain. That's pretty severe. Severe enough that the team has said his season is over. As good as Ichiro Suzuki has been this season, losing Stanton is a big blow.

The Marlins are suddenly not ruling out a return, however. In fact, president of baseball operations Michael Hill went as far as to say Stanton is "going to be back" later this season. From MLB.com's Joe Frisaro:

"He's going to be back," Marlins president of baseball operations Michael Hill said. "He's told me he's going to be back. He's going to help this team get into October and help us get through October."

...

"His rehab, to this point, has been great," Hill said. "All of the feedback we've been getting has been very positive, and he's in good spirits."

Stanton's injury comes with a best-case timetable of six weeks, according to Frisaro. That means if he does return this season, it won't be until the very end of September. The last week of the season or so. That's not much, but it's better than nothing.

So far this season Stanton is hitting .244/.329/.496 (121 OPS+) with 25 home runs in 103 games. That includes his massive early season slump though. Stanton hit .299/.361/.582 with 13 home runs in his final 48 games before getting hurt.

Giancarlo Stanton is trying to make it back by the end of the season. USATSI

My guess is Stanton's return will be dictated by the team's place in the standings. If they're still in the race late in the season, they'll do all they can to get him back. But, if they fall out of it, the Marlins will shut him down for the season. There's no reason to push it in that case. Stanton's too important long-term.

The Marlins welcomed closer A.J. Ramos back from the DL on Sunday, though they're still without Justin Bour (ankle), Wei-Yin Chen (elbow), Adam Conley (finger), and Bryan Morris (back).