It’s thumbs up for Alex Bregman, thumbs down for Baker Mayfield—and a very busy Monday on Injury Territory.

Will Carroll starts with the remarkable return of Alex Bregman, who came back from facial fractures and promptly hit two home runs on Sunday. We look at what his performance tells us about the recovery, why facial fractures can create more problems than the injury initially suggests, and what Bregman’s return means heading into October.

The news isn’t nearly as encouraging for Baker Mayfield. The Buccaneers quarterback suffered a thumb UCL sprain, an injury that matters enormously for anyone whose job involves gripping and throwing a football. Will explains the anatomy, what determines whether the ligament can heal without surgery, when an internal-brace repair becomes an option, and why Mayfield could be looking at a significant recovery.

With the MLB postseason here, we also dig into playoff rosters. October forces teams to make very different calculations about injured players: Who is healthy enough to contribute now? Who can survive a short series? And when does carrying an injured star create more problems than it solves?

Then it’s back to the NFL, where apparently knees and ankles have decided they’d like some airtime too. We work through the latest NFL knee injuries and take a closer look at one wide receiver’s troublesome ankle—because the diagnosis on the injury report doesn't always tell you what actually matters for performance or return to play.

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