In the context of a daily sport like the 162-game marathon the New York Yankees and 29 other teams put themselves through every year, two weeks ago can feel like an eternity ago.

Especially when a team is enduring one of those everything that can go wrong is going wrong stretches like the Yankees, who once held a seven-game lead atop the AL East and seemed like a decent favorite to return to the World Series.

The latest run of bad news occurred when the Yankees said Clarke Schmidt was likely headed for Tommy John surgery. They made the ominous announcement two days after he exited after 55 pitches in three innings in Toronto due to tightness in his forearm, which is an injury that often gets your radar up thinking about the possibility of tightness leading to surgery.

The announcement was made two weeks after Schmidt threw 103 pitches in seven hitless innings against the Baltimore Orioles. Schmidt said at the time he understood why the Yankees lifted him and also confidently said he would have finished the no-hitter off if given a chance to throw beyond the seventh.

Schmidt’s flirtation with a no-hitter also prompted manager Aaron Boone to say the 2017 first-round pick was “underrated”. At the time, it was hard to argue since Schmidt was providing quality outing after quality outing and amid throwing 28 2/3 scoreless innings.

Now, Schmidt is likely facing a second surgery to fix an ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, the same injury Gerrit Cole is rehabbing from after getting the surgery in mid-March.

“He’s become a really, really good starting pitcher in this league,” Boone told reporters. “It’s a tough blow but one we’ve got to again; every team has their share of these things happen and we’ve got to be able to absorb it and hopefully get some guys back in the mix soon and create another opportunity for somebody else to hopefully step in and pick up the slack.”

The Yankees survived Cole’s absence for about two months after the opening weeks saw their rotation ERA be the worst in the majors. In recent weeks, the rotation showed cracks along with a leaky bullpen that saw relievers get the loss in the first five games of their second six-game skid before Carlos Rodon allowed a grand slam to Brandon Nimmo in the first inning Saturday.

The injury creates a strong possibility of the trade deadline pursuits being a starting pitcher, along with a reliever and a third baseman who can hit to move Jazz Chisholm Jr. back to his natural second base.

It also creates a likely opportunity for Cam Schlittler, who recently was moved to Triple-A. He is there on a pitching staff that includes Allan Winans and Carlos Carrasco, who are depth pieces yet to impress or provide a reason why they should be getting starts in the major league setting.

The Yankees were often one injury from turning to a place they did not anticipate. They were missing Marcus Stroman for two-plus months because of knee inflammation, got a modestly decent run of starts from Ryan Yarbrough before he injured his oblique two weeks ago.

They are still waiting for Luis Gil and hoping Rodon’s difficult showing against the Mets was a blip. There is Max Fried and the belief is that starts like last week in Toronto were also a blip.

Still, the devastating news on Clarke Schmidt is the disappointing ending from a nightmarish week that did not get better once they took the field for their 89th game and lost for the 15th time in 21 games and 21st time in 34 games.

In the meantime, the Yankees are still waiting to correct themselves after thinking they did last week when Sunday’s 12-5 win over the A’s gave them a fifth win in nine games following a six-game skid that featured a 30-inning scoreless streak.

Correcting themselves may mean being forced to play flawlessly at the plate with the right mix of power and effective hitting while hoping for the best on days Fried and Rodon do not pitch and treading cautiously when relievers enter games.