Injuries are a major part of any sport, and MLB is no exception. We've seen games and seasons defined by injuries, and 2025 is shaping up much the shame.
It's never ideal to blame shortcomings on injuries, since every team deals with them, but not every team has equal luck with the injury bug. A team like the New York Mets, for example, has been incredibly unlucky with injuries, especially lately. Kodai Senga, Tylor Megill, Griffin Canning and Max Kranick were all placed on the IL just in the past couple of weeks, and lefty Sean Manaea even had a minor setback of his own. That's really hard to push through.
Nobody will care much when the richest owner in the sport, Steve Cohen, complains about his team's rotten injury luck, but a look at how the Mets stack up against the rest of the league injury-wise shows Cohen has a point.
Note: All records and injuries are prior to games on Monday, 6/30. Injury figures are via Spotrac.
MLB standings ordered by games missed due to injury
AL East
Rank | Team | Cumulative IL Money | Current Record |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | New York Yankees | $49.8 million | 48-35 |
2 | Boston Red Sox | $31.2 million | 41-44 |
3 | Baltimore Orioles | $21.6 million | 36-47 |
4 | Toronto Blue Jays | $19.2 million | 45-38 |
5 | Tampa Bay Rays | $11.2 million | 47-37 |
It was easy to expect the New York Yankees to lead a list like this when it was announced that Gerrit Cole would miss the entire season due to injury, and Giancarlo Stanton missing the first two-and-a-half months of the season only added to their injury woes. Despite two of their highest-paid players missing time with injuries, the Yankees have been in first place all season; they have Stanton back, and Luis Gil shouldn't be too far behind. Fernando Cruz did just get placed on the IL, so all is not perfect in the Bronx, but as they get healthier, it wouldn't be surprising to see them pull away from their division rivals.
AL Central
Rank | Team | Cumulative IL Money | Current Record |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Detroit Tigers | $14.6 million | 53-32 |
2 | Cleveland Guardians | $13.2 million | 40-42 |
3 | Minnesota Twins | $10.6 million | 40-44 |
4 | Chicago White Sox | $9.1 million | 28-56 |
5 | Kansas City Royals | $5.8 million | 39-45 |
The Detroit Tigers have had more money on the IL than any other team in their division, yet they have the best record in the game. The only other team to be majorly impacted by the injury bug in the Central is the Minnesota Twins, and it feels as if they've gotten fairly lucky in that regard. Yes, Royce Lewis and Pablo Lopez have missed substantial time, but both Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton have been mostly healthy. The Twins still sitting four games below .500 despite that is pretty disappointing.
AL West
Rank | Team | Cumulative IL Money | Current Record |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Los Angeles Angels | $34.4 million | 41-42 |
2 | Texas Rangers | $21.1 million | 41-43 |
3 | Houston Astros | $19.4 million | 50-34 |
4 | Athletics | $7.5 million | 34-52 |
5 | Seattle Mariners | $7.2 million | 43-40 |
Much of the Los Angeles Angels' IL money is thanks to Anthony Rendon, but for once, they withstood a Mike Trout IL stint and remained in the AL postseason hunt. The odds of them winning the AL West are slim, but they're alive and well in the Wild Card race. This being the reality despite injuries to Trout, Zach Neto and Ben Joyce, to name a few, is pretty impressive.
NL East
Rank | Team | Cumulative IL Money | Current Record |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | New York Mets | $36.1 million | 48-37 |
2 | Atlanta Braves | $18.0 million | 38-45 |
3 | Philadelphia Phillies | $12.0 million | 49-35 |
4 | Washington Nationals | $6.7 million | 35-49 |
5 | Miami Marlins | $4.5 million | 37-45 |
It's no coincidence that the New York Mets have free-fallen immediately after the injuries started to pile up. They were without Manaea and Frankie Montas for much of the season, but adding the pitchers listed above, in addition to guys like A.J. Minter and Danny Young, has severely impacted the team. All they can hope is that when they get healthier, they'll revert back to the team they were in April and May.
NL Central
Rank | Team | Cumulative IL Money | Current Record |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Cincinnati Reds | $12.1 million | 44-40 |
2 | Milwaukee Brewers | $11.95 million | 47-37 |
3 | Chicago Cubs | $10.8 million | 49-35 |
4 | Pittsburgh Pirates | $4.3 million | 35-50 |
5 | St. Louis Cardinals | $794,727 | 47-38 |
The St. Louis Cardinals deserve a ton of credit for playing as well as they have this season, but it can't go unnoticed that they've been, by far, the luckiest team in the Majors when it comes to injuries. Ivan Herrera has missed a good amount of time on his two IL stints, but other than him, who else has gotten hurt? Jordan Walker? The Cardinals have not been forced to rely much at all on their depth, which has undoubtedly impacted them record-wise.
NL West
Rank | Team | Cumulative IL Money | Current Record |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Los Angeles Dodgers | $42.3 million | 53-32 |
2 | San Diego Padres | $25.6 million | 45-38 |
3 | Arizona Diamondbacks | $24.4 million | 41-42 |
4 | Colorado Rockies | $19.4 million | 19-65 |
5 | San Francisco Giants | $9.7 million | 45-39 |
The Los Angeles Dodgers have been as banged up as any team in the National League and have the best record in the sport in spite of that. The Dodgers have 11 pitchers sidelined right now, and that's not even close to their high-water mark of the season. Those injuries include stars like Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell and Blake Treinen, to name a few.