Ok, NOW Panic: James Paxton to DL with Forearm Strain

The season is not yet 1/5th of the way through, and though the M’s current position and slightly less-bleak playoff odds aren’t that encouraging, the M’s have had several players show signs of blowing their preseason projections out of the water. While, say, Jean Segura isn’t going to eliminate the gap between the M’s and Astros, you could kind of see a path to wildcard contention if a number of things went right: Felix/Haniger are only out 3 weeks, and come back at more or less full strength, Gamel continues to hit, Texas continues to struggle with health, etc. Today, the M’s just announced that ace lefty James Paxton will miss a “couple of starts” with a forearm strain. Now it’s really, really hard to make out a path that doesn’t end at game 162.

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