There are just a couple weeks left in the MLB regular season, and for the St. Louis Cardinals, the year is essentially over. Fans went into the season with playoff expectations, but that isn't going to happen for the Cardinals this year. Right now, St. Louis is 67-84 and they are in last place in the NL Central. The Cardinals are now also officially eliminated from playoff contention. At this point, the main goal for the remainder of the season is keeping everyone healthy. Unfortunately, that didn't happen on Tuesday.

1B/DH/OF Alec Burleson was injured on Tuesday when he was sliding head first into a base. He ended up fracturing his left thumb. Cardinals manager Oli Marmol said on Wednesday that Burleson had surgery on said thumb and that a pin was placed in the thumb to stabilize it, according to a tweet from John Denton. That's not what the Cardinals were hoping for in a game that was essentially meaningless.

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Alex Burleson had a pretty solid year based on the fact that this was first full season up with the Cardinals. He played in 107 games and finished with a .244 batting average, eight home runs and 36 RBIs. He also ended his season with a .691 OPS. He was only up for 16 games last season, but his numbers this year are much better.

Hopefully in the next couple weeks, the Cardinals can avoid the injury bug and get into the offseason as healthy as possible. These remaining games will be about building momentum for next season so they can make sure a year like this isn't repeated.