After injuring his left thumb a few days ago, Javier Báez has a hairline fracture. The star shortstop had an MRI on his hand today that revealed the injury, which will likely keep him out for several weeks.
The bad news comes at a time when the Cubs are fighting for their playoff lives and need their stars more than ever. Thankfully, Willson Contreras and Ben Zobrist‘s returns came at the time they did. However, this is still a big blow to the Chicago Cubs going forward.
Báez will see a specialist on Monday to establish an official timeline for the injury, but it’s safe to estimate he’s out until, minimum, playoffs (assuming the Cubs can get there).
With Báez now out, Addison Russell will take over as the everyday shortstop, opening the everyday second base position to Ben Zobrist.
This injury is the last thing the Cubs needed. This team has still not been able to play at full strength this season. Imagine as fans if we could see one game where Jason Heyward, Javier Báez, Nicholas Castellanos, Kyle Schwarber, Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Ben Zobrist and Willson Contreras are all in the lineup. Sadly, we will not see that this season, or maybe ever, depending on Castellanos’ future.
In the meantime, the Cubs still need to win games. The Cubs play game three of four today in the Milwaukee series with Yu Darvish taking the mound. First pitch is scheduled for 6:10pm CST at Miller Park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
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