The Marlins headed into Sunday trailing the Cardinals for the second NL wild-card spot by just a half-game, but bad news struck before game action started. The Marlins announced that both right fielder Giancarlo Stanton (strained left groin) and starting pitcher Adam Conley (left third finger tendinitis) were placed on the 15-day disabled list.
That means Stanton and Conley join first baseman Justin Bour, starting pitcher Wei-Yin Chen and closer A.J. Ramos as key regulars on the DL here in the dog days of August. Keep in mind starting pitcher Colin Rea was sent back to the Padres after he was injured in his first start with the Marlins.
Stanton, 26, is hitting .244/.329/.496 with 25 home runs and 70 RBI this season. The average and OBP might not look great, but Stanton went through a season-altering slump earlier. Since June 27, he's hitting .299/.361/.582. He's also one of the best and most intimidating power threats in the game.
The Marlins can plug in Ichiro Suzuki on an everyday basis alongside Christian Yelich and Marcell Ozuna. That's still a productive outfield, but losing Stanton from the middle of the order is a huge blow. And, again, the Marlins are contending.
Then again, this isn't anything different than the other NL wild-card contenders are going through.
Take the aforementioned Cardinals. Both Aledmys Diaz and Matt Holliday have a fractured thumb. Starting pitcher Michael Wacha has a shoulder issue, as does first baseman Matt Adams. So does former close Trevor Rosenthal.
How about the Mets? The defending NL champs have lost Matt Harvey and David Wright long-term. Lucas Duda, Asdrubal Cabrera, Juan Lagaras and Yoenis Cespedes are also currently on the DL.
The Pirates, actually, at present, are quite as snakebitten as the rest, but young starter Tyler Glasnow is on the DL and they have dealt with injuries to Francisco Cervelli and Gerrit Cole, among others, this season.
The Dodgers have created some separation between themselves in the top wild-card spot and the second one (4 1/2 games heading into Sunday), but they've done so in spite of major rotation injuries. Brett Anderson will start on Sunday, but it will be his first of the season. Regardless, there will still be an entire rotation -- a pretty damn good one -- on the DL for the Dodgers: Clayton Kershaw, Rich Hill, Alex Wood, Bud Norris and Hyun-Jin Ryu.
If we wanted to go down to include the Rockies (five back from the second wild card entering Sunday), we could mention rookie sensation Trevor Story being out for the season with a torn thumb ligament.
Injuries always impact pennant races and teams relatively unscathed these days are generally the exception, not the rule. Still, the NL wild-card race this season has been remarkably banged up. Consider the Marlins the latest victims, given the news on Sunday.
