Serious injury to a Marlin rival could end their playoff hopes

He could have been a member of the Miami Marlins… but instead, Austin Riley plays for division rival Atlanta Braves. The team that is absolutely falling apart from injuries this season. I can't imagine how a team can handle injury after injury, and I give them credit for continuing to try to compete. This time, however, it might just be too much, as the aforementioned Austin Riley is likely out for the rest of the season with a fractured right hand.

I should start by saying that I am not happy when a player gets injured. They are human and no matter what team they play for, no one deserves to get hurt and miss time because of an injury. It saddens me that Austin Riley will likely miss the rest of the season and that is a catastrophic blow for Atlanta.

Riley had a good season for Atlanta, with a batting average of .256/.322/.461, 19 home runs and 56 RBI in 110 games and 425 AB. With his typically good defense, he was worth 2.8 WAR for his performance this season. He was better last season, however. He had a batting average of .281/.345/.516, 37 home runs and 97 RBI in 159 games and 636 AB. He was worth 5.9 WAR.

I still wonder what could have been if the Miami Marlins had made the aforementioned trade with Atlanta for Riley. I would have loved to see JT Realmuto traded for a middle-of-the-order bat like Riley. Since 2021, Riley is worth 21.3 WAR. During that same time period, Realmuto was worth 15.5 WAR. Considering Riley's team control and better hitting ability, I can only dream of the Marlins rostering with him. That's obviously not going to happen and the actual Realmuto trade was a complete disaster.

The Atlanta Braves are fighting to defend their third NL Wild Card spot from the New York Mets. With Austin Riley likely out for the season with injury, this could be all the Mets need to take that spot away from them. Unfortunately, the Miami Marlins will not be joining either of those teams in the playoffs this season.