With the New York Yankees still mathematically alive in the American League Wild Card race, the last thing they need is another injury to a key player. However, that is exactly what happened to center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury Friday night as the Yankees played the Toronto Blue Jays. Ellsbury may not return for the Yankees' final nine games.

With the bases loaded in the bottom of the fourth inning, Ellsbury grounded a ball to Blue Jays' second baseman Munenori Kawasaki, who attempted to turn the double play. Shortstop Jose Reyes's relay throw got past first baseman Adam Lind. Ellsbury lunged for the first base bag safely, driving home one run while a second run scored on the errant throw (video). 

Ellsbury pulled up after the play, holding his right hamstring. He finished the inning on the bases but came out in the top of the fifth inning in favor of Chris Young.

In his post-game report, MLB.com's Yankees' beat writer Jake Kring-Schreifels reported that Ellsbury had an MRI on Friday night, and the Yankees are awaiting the results. Yankees manager Joe Girardi, though, implied that Ellsbury's season may be over. Kring-Schreifels quoted Girardi discussing the injury. Said Giardi, 

"He said it grabbed. I'd be surprised if he's a player tomorrow, and I'm just hopeful that it's not much. We'll have to wait and see. I think [it's] a distinct possibility [that he may not return this season]. Any time a guy comes out and grabs his hamstring, you're always concerned. It's not what you want.... He's been a huge part of our offense. It's not what you want, but you've got to deal with it. That's all we can do."

The Yankees already have trouble scoring runs as they rank 14th in the American League with 589, averaging 3.8 runs per game. Losing Ellsbury, the Yankees' main leadoff hitter and second-leading run-scorer, greatly hurts the team's chances of staying alive in the wild card race. They also recently lost Martin Prado for the remainder of the season due to an emergency appendectomy. Prado was hitting .316 with seven homers and 16 RBI in 37 games since coming to the Yankees at the non-waiver trade deadline. They will likely now have to keep fighting without two players who have contributed the most to what run production they have gotten in recent times.

Should Ellsbury not return, he will end his season with a slash line of .271/.328/.419 with 16 homers, 70 RBI and 39 stolen bases from mainly the leadoff spot in the lineup. He had slumped to a .155 average in September, but he was still on pace to score nearly as many runs as he had in any other month of the season. 

The Yankees enter play on September 20 tied with the Cleveland Indians at 4 1/2 games behind the Kansas City Royals for the second wild card position. They must also climb over the Seattle Mariners, who are only a half-game out. They already had a tough outlook before losing Ellsbury, and now it gets even tougher for the Yankees.