The Kansas City Royals come into Sunday with a one-game lead on the second wild-card spot and a three-game deficit in the AL Central, so their last ride with impending free agents Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, and Lorenzo Cain is close to yielding a postseason berth.

The team's postseason chances were dealt a big blow on Sunday, however. The Royals placed heart-and-soul catcher Salvador Perez on the 10-day DL with an intercostal strain.

Perez suffered the injury in Friday's game and the team hoped he would be able to avoid the disabled list. There's concern the intercostal strain will sideline him up to four weeks, which means he might not return until after rosters expand on Sept. 1. Perez has been dealing with on-and-off rib cage issues since late last month.

So far this season the 27-year-old Perez is hitting .278/.308/.510 with a career-high 21 home runs in 99 games. He is fourth in baseball innings caught (710 2/3) and, simply put, few players in baseball are as important to their team as Perez is to the Royals. He hits in the middle of the lineup, runs their pitching staff, and acts as the field general from behind the plate.

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The Royals will be without Salvador Perez for at least 10 days, and possibly much longer. USATSI

With Perez out, the Royals will rely on backup catcher Drew Butera to handle the lion's share of the workload. He is hitting .250/.303/.370 this season and is widely regarded as a strong defensive catcher, though going from Perez to Butera is an obvious downgrade. Kansas City's postseason chances are taking a big hit without Perez.

It's possible that, if Perez will indeed miss four weeks, the Royals will look to bring in a new backstop through an August waiver trade. Here's how those work. Marlins backup A.J. Ellis and Giants backup Nick Hundley are possible targets with their teams well out of the postseason race. Carlos Ruiz could be an option too should the Mariners fall out of it.