No Gerrit Cole. No Justin Verlander–at least for now. Where does that leave the Astros?

Under different circumstances, Justin Verlander’s clarification would have been hugely important: He did indeed have a forearm strain, he said, but it would sideline him just temporarily, rather than for the rest of the season.

Under these circumstances, however? There might not be much of a difference between “out temporarily” and “out for the year.” In a 60-game season, the terms for analyzing an injury have been distorted: A 10-day IL stint is not what it used to be. There’s no longer such a tough road to October. And the incentive structure for the entire season has shifted. If there’s a general sense of what it means to announce this sort of injury—what it means for a player to miss a few weeks—those ideas no longer apply. It’s all different. So what does Verlander’s news