Two injuries were announced on Friday in Major League Baseball news, one of which promises to have an effect on an emerging pennant race. The other injury looks like it will have a far less felt impact on the standings as the two teams that suffered the injuries are in very different positions. The Boston Red Sox will lose David Price to an elbow injury. Meanwhile, the Houston Astros will lose George Springer due to a problem with his left quadricep.

Price was doing well lately

David Price has not had a great season when one looks at the complete picture.

He is just 5-3 after 11 starts and has already missed several weeks of the season on the disabled list. Furthermore, his season is not complete as he did not make his season debut until late May. While Price did not have a good month of June, he appeared to be coming into his own in July. In four starts this month he went 2-1 and posted a 2.52 ERA. In 25 innings pitched in July, he only gave up seven walks and yielded just one home run.

Due to his emerging presence on the mound, he is a player that will certainly be missed in Boston's rotation. The Boston Red Sox head into Friday just 0.5 games up on the New York Yankees in the AL East. Losing any player, even for just 10 days, that is contributing could be felt in a pennant race that is as close as the one in the AL East is.

Furthermore, the situation for Boston is complex given that the Tampa Bay Rays, who recently improved via a trade, are not out of the picture yet. The Rays enter Friday just three games back of the Red Sox in the AL East's standings. As August nears, any of New York, Boston, or Tampa Bay could take the driver's seat in the race for the divisional crown.

Additionally, neither Baltimore nor Toronto can really be considered out of the picture at the moment although those are two teams that really need to post wins consistently and without delay.

Houston can still coast to a division title

Houston losing Springer is unlikely to hurt the team much. It wasn't long ago that they lost Carlos Correa for two months, a far longer period than what is expected for Springer (10 days).

However, even the Correa injury is unlikely to hurt the Astros.

With both he and Springer out, the Astros may lose games more often than they were with the two players in the lineup. But they still have a .663 winning percentage heading into Friday. That's good for a 17-game lead in the AL West standings, a lead that almost looks insurmountable with just over two months left in the season. Like Correa, if Springer returns to the lineup effective and healthy than his injury may largely be inconsequential to the outcome of the AL West pennant race this season.
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