5 key injuries that will matter heading into October

At this point in the year, every player - from Mike Trout to the 25th man on the Minnesota Twins - is hurt. Some players are more hurt than others, though, and some of those individuals are on teams either heading to the playoffs or fighting to keep their seasons alive.

With less than a fortnight left in the regular season, then, let's look at five key injuries that will really matter down the stretch and into October.

Carlos Carrasco, Indians

Terry Francona would be wise to encase his few healthy players in bubble-wrap (or bulletproof lucite), because this is just getting ridiculous.

Already beset by Danny Salazar's elbow injury and Yan Gomes' fractured hand, the Indians lost right-hander Carlos Carrasco for the year, as well, when he took a comebacker off his right forearm Saturday - a freak injury that, consequently, has sidelined two-fifths of the American League's most effective rotation.

Barring a collapse, the Indians are going to win their first division title since 2007 a couple weeks from now, but Carrasco's absence will very much be felt come October.

With both Carrasco and Salazar out of the picture, the Indians will likely be forced to roll out Trevor Bauer and Josh Tomlin behind Corey Kluber in their ALDS rotation, a sub-optimal scenario, to say the least, given that the former owns a 5.17 ERA since the All-Star break while the latter has served up 10 homers in his last 32 2/3 innings.

Steve Pearce, Orioles

Despite having Manny Machado, Mark Trumbo, and Adam Jones in their lineup on a nightly basis, the Orioles have, rather shockingly, managed the fourth-lowest wRC+ (82) against left-handed pitching in 2016 - the same mark as the Cincinnati Reds.

That's why, about six weeks ago, they went out and brought back Steve Pearce, an accomplished lefty-masher with a 1.028 OPS against southpaws this year. Alas, Pearce is done for the year, felled by a flexor mass strain, so, over the next two weeks, the Orioles will have to take on David Price, Eduardo Rodriguez, and potentially Francisco Liriano and CC Sabathia without one of their most valuable weapons.

In his stead, the Orioles will have to trot out, say, Drew Stubbs or Michael Bourn or Joey Rickard to start those games - a not-insignificant dropoff for a team that needs to score in bunches to win.

Jacob deGrom, Mets

The long-term concerns arising from Jacob deGrom's problematic ulnar nerve would've been troubling enough even if the diagnosis hadn't come at literally the least opportune moment, with the Mets - despite being ravaged by injury and not especially talented - clinging to a postseason spot.

Initially slated to start Sunday after missing the previous two-plus weeks, deGrom likely would've made three, possibly four more starts down the stretch, conceivably doing enough to approximate his 3.04 ERA (132 ERA+) over the next 13 days to keep New York's postseason hopes alive.

That won't happen now, and his spot in the rotation - already missing Steven Matz and Matt Harvey - will go to Gabriel Ynoa, a 23-year-old with a 15.19 ERA through his first six career relief appearances.

Alex Bregman, Astros

Though their odds aren't great, the Astros still have about a one-in-five chance of earning a spot in the wild-card game, so, yeah, they would've been better off not losing their hottest hitter to a hamstring strain.

Truthfully, the offensive difference between Alex Bregman - hitting .311/.360/.613 over his last 25 games - and replacement Yuli Gurriel may be negligible, but Bregman is a superior defender, and could've even been used as a stopgap shortstop, too, with Carlos Correa nursing a sore shoulder. Not to mention the club remains without 2015 AL Cy Young winner Dallas Keuchel.

Were all of them healthy, the Astros might actually have a decent shot of erasing the three-game gap separating them from the postseason: Houston has played .556 baseball with all three in the starting lineup.

Stephen Strasburg, Nationals

Five years removed from Tommy John surgery, Stephen Strasburg's elbow issues have resurfaced, and while the Nationals, not unlike the Indians, are all but assured a division title, the right-hander's absence casts a pall over their postseason rotation.

Tanner Roark, who boasts a 2.75 ERA (3.67 FIP) over 193 1/3 innings this season, is a fine choice to follow Max Scherzer, but Dusty Baker's options beyond him aren't terribly inspired.

Gio Gonzalez, the most likely candidate to start a Game 3, owns a 8.16 ERA in three starts this month, Joe Ross just came off the disabled list, and Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez have been mostly ineffective in their 10 combined MLB starts.