Tampa Bay Rays ace Tyler Glasnow underwent successful Tommy John surgery on Wednesday and is expected to be out until 2023, per Robert Murray of FanSided.

It had been trending this way for Glasnow. There was recently some small hope that the pitcher could perhaps avoid the dreaded procedure on his UCL and could recover through rehabbing, but instead he indeed had to go under the knife to repair the ligament in his right arm.

Tyler Glasnow hadn't pitched since mid-June due to the injury. The hard-throwing righty was having an excellent season before going on the shelf, racking up 123 strikeouts in 88 innings pitched and boasting a stellar 2.66 ERA. The 27-year-old held a 5-2 record in 14 starts.

The Rays are still in first place in the AL East even without Glasnow, but it's a tough blow to lose him for the rest of not only this season but next season as well. Tampa has a bunch of other decent pitchers, but nobody on the level of Glasnow. While he has had his share of struggles in the postseason, he will still be missed after he made several key starts during the run to the World Series last season.

The Rays' 65-44 record has them 1.5 games ahead of the Boston Red Sox. The New York Yankees are lurking 6.5 games back, with the Toronto Blue Jays not far behind at 7.5 games back. It's going to be a tough battle down the stretch for this division, and Tampa will have to win it without Tyler Glasnow.