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The Indians' chances of making it to the World Series just took a hit

Mike Oz

Well, Cleveland, do you want the bad news first or … well, the other bad news?

On the same day that the Cleveland Browns put quarterback Robert Griffin III on injured reserve after just one game, the Cleveland Indians have lost starting pitcher Danny Salazar for the rest of the regular season, potentially a couple weeks of postseason play or maybe even the entirety of the postseason too.

This is, of course, is much worse for the Indians, who have a legitimate shot to reach the World Series this year, and that’s in no small part because of Salazar’s contributions. (The Browns are just hoping not to go 0-16).

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Salazar’s been battling elbow discomfort for most of the summer and on Monday a new diagnosis came back linking it to his forearm, and that’s not encouraging for their World Series prospects. Here’s the news, via Paul Hoynes of The Cleveland Plain-Dealer:

An MRI on Salazar’s right forearm found a mild strain of the flexor muscle. Salazar will receive a PRP (platelet rich plasma) injection in the forearm Tuesday to help the healing process. He will not be able to pick up a baseball for an estimated 10 days.

The best-case scenario for Salazar to take the mound again for the Indians this year is in three to four weeks. They have 20 games left in the regular season so if Salazar did return it would be in the postseason.

Danny Salazar will miss the rest of the regular season, but is a postseason return possible? (AP)
Danny Salazar will miss the rest of the regular season, but is a postseason return possible? (AP)

The question isn’t whether the Indians can make the postseason without Salazar, they should be fine there. They’ve got an 83-59 record (second best in the AL), a seven-game lead in the AL Central and a 99.7 percent chance to make the playoffs, according to Fangraphs.

The question is what they look like in a short series without Salazar, who was one of the best pitchers in the American League when healthy this season.

Pitching wins in the postseason — just look at any team in the past few years that’s reached the World Series — and the Indians having a rotation that included Salazar, Corey Kluber and Carlos Carrasco, seemed pretty daunting. Having to beat that trio in a five- or seven-game series would be tough for anybody.

The silver lining is this: The Indians have been quite good even without Salazar. They’re 23-17 since Aug. 1. Meanwhile, Salazar had a 12.41 ERA in August and hasn’t pitched more than 5.2 innings since July 19. So obviously, something has been wrong with him.

So if the Indians can now figure that out and if the injections work and if Salazar can make meaningful contributions by mid-October when the importance of pitching is magnified, all hope might not be lost in Cleveland.

But that’s a lot of “ifs” and an uncomfortable amount of uncertainty.

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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!