Approximately 117 games into the season 2.5 games is all that separates four teams for the final Wild Card spot.  As we have seen repeatedly this season and again this past weekend, injuries have played and will continue to play a major role in this Wild Card race.

Over this past weekend, it was announced that Giancarlo Stanton is going to miss the rest of the season with a groin injury.  It’s a devastating injury for Stanton and the Marlins as Stanton had turned his season around hitting .287/.349/.588 with 10 homers and 30 RBI since July 1st.  With him gone, the Marlins have lost both the most feared hitter in their lineup, but also the only hitter in all of baseball that can truly say owns Jacob deGrom.

Stanton’s injury comes on the heels of the Marlins having to send back Colin Rea and his torn UCL to the Padres as it turns out he was damaged goods.  The Marlins also do not anticipate their big free agent addition, Wei-Yin Chen, to contribute for the rest of the season as he is dealing with elbow issues of his own.  Joining Stanton and Chen on the disabled list is Adam Conley, who is arguably the Marlins second best starting pitcher.  In addition to losing two of their starters to injuries, the Marlins are without their closer A.J. Ramos as he was put on the disabled list with a fractured middle finger on his pitching hand.  Add all of that to the Marlins needing to skip a couple of Jose Fernandez starts to manage his workload, and the Marlins are in real trouble on the pitching front.

The Marlins have been relatively healthy all season, and now it seems as if they are starting to get bit by the injury bug at the wrong time of the season.

A team that has been decimated by injuries all year has been the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals season got out on the wrong foot when they began the year without starting shortstop Jhonny Peralta as he was recovering from a surgically repaired thumb.

Joining Peralta on the disabled list this year has been his replacement Aledmys Diaz with a broken thumb of his own.  The Cardinals are also without Matt Adams, who had been the starting first baseman during the stretch that the Opening Day first baseman, Brandon Moss, was on the disabled list.  Centerfielder Tommy Pham has spent much time on the disabled list this year leading to the Cardinals experimenting with Kolten Wong in center.  This is the same Wong who had to be sent to the minors due to his struggles at the plate and at second base.  The most recent and possibly most devastating injury is Matt Holliday going down with a broken thumb.

As bad as things have been for the Cardinals position players, their pitching staff is just as decimated by injuries.  Lance Lynn has not made one start for the team this season as he is still recovering from Tommy John surgery.  He has been joined on the disabled list by one time NLCS hero Michael Wacha who may not only be done for the season, but also may need to have his role as a starting pitcher be re-evaluated all together with his scapular issues.  This duo joins a number of Cardinals bullpen arms on the disabled list.

Neither Jordan Walden or Mitch Harris have thrown one pitch this season as they have dealt with injuries.  Kevin Siegrist was recently put on the disabled list with arm fatigue, and Tyler Lyons is done for the year as he is dealing with a stress reaction in his right knee.  The reliever problems are only exacerbated by the fact that their closer Trevor Rosenthal was first ineffective to start the year and then landed on the disabled list with a flexor tendon injury.  Like most of this Cardinals team, it is questionable whether he can return this season.

Unlike the Marlins and the Cardinals, the Mets are starting to get healthy.  This weekend the Mets not only had Jose Reyes return from the disabled list, but the team also saw him score a Reyes Run on Sunday.

Reyes should soon be joined by some of his teammates.  Today, Yoenis Cespedes is expected to start his rehab assignment.  Tomorrow, Asdrubal Cabrera will begin his own rehab assignment.  Their return will dramatically improve a Mets lineup that has been starting Ty Kelly and his .200 batting average in left field all too frequently.  Matt Reynolds and his .211 batting average had already been sent to the minors when Reyes was activated from the disabled list.

Long story short, the Mets will soon be as close to full strength as they have been all season.  They are getting healthy as two of their main competitors for the Wild Card are dealing with some disastrous injuries.  With all these injuries, the Mets are a better team than the Marlins and the Cardinals meaning the Mets are out of excuses.  It is time for the Mets to go on a run and take control of the Wild Card race.