When a big-name player on your team goes down, it's makes things tougher—and that goes double in the postseason.

Yankee captain Derek Jeter is the face of his organization, the team's undisputed leader, and has been for years. He fractured his ankle, though, in Game 1 of the ALCS and will not return. The Yankees went on to lose that game, and then again in Game 2.

He's not the only marquee player whose team struggled after his injury. When Tom Brady went down in 2008, the Patriots missed the playoffs. This past season, the Chicago Bulls had the best record in the Eastern Conference, but they were quickly out of the playoffs once they lost star point guard Derrick Rose.

We'll soon see whether the Yankees can recover in time to even things up with the Tigers, but it may already be too late.

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