It couldn’t look darker for the Yankees with the American League Championship Series on the line. Down two games to none, they head into Detroit tonight to face stopper Justin Verlander (17-8 record in the regular season and a 2.64 ERA). The Tigers’ ace breezed through the Oakland A’s in the first round of the playoffs, striking out 22 over the course of his two wins with an ERA of 0.56. Worse yet, the Yankees are without their best player, Derek Jeter (.316 BA, 15 HRs, 58 RBIs), who broke his left ankle Saturday night ranging for a grounder up the middle.

The 38-year-old Jeter’s revival this year was a central part of the Bronx ballclub’s success, and its chances in the postseason are considerably slimmer without him. Over seventeen years in the majors, the Hall of Fame-bound shortstop has put together a postseason career that, with 158 games logged, amounts to a full extra season of baseball. In the postseason, Jeter is the career leader in several offensive categories—runs scored (111), total bases (302), hits (200), singles (143), doubles (32), triples (5)—and near the top in almost every other. Starting in his rookie year, 1996, the Yanks have won five World Series. The last time they won the fall classic without Jeter was in 1978, when another Yankee All-Star middle infielder went down with an injury.