Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo has emerged from a medical check with lukewarm news on his injured ankle. An MRI revealed a moderate lateral sprain, the team told reporters including Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune (via Twitter).
Rizzo will not require surgery, which is promising. But he’s going to spend five to seven days in a walking boot, which seems to put a good bit of doubt on his ability to return to action before the end of the regular season.
A specific timeline isn’t known at this time; no doubt, more will be evident once the boot comes off. But it’s obvious the Cubs will go without the slugging first baseman for most or all of the stretch run, with his postseason availability also in question.
Unfortunately, Rizzo isn’t the only Cubs player to go down with an injury. The club is already missing Javier Baez and Addison Russel in the infield, which has forced youngster Nico Hoerner into earlier-than-anticipated action. Now, the team will need to dip into its depth further to fill in at first. Skipper Joe Maddon mentioned Victor Caratini, Ian Happ, and Jonathan Lucroy as possibilities (via Gonzales, on Twitter).
All that being said, the Cubbies remain in solid (though hardly certain) postseason position. They’re currently slotted into the second Wild Card slot, with the first WC position and the NL Central division still in play. While the Brewers are in hot pursuit, the rest of the pack has fallen four or more games back.
F word
Won’t matter. They’ve been a sub 500 team since May I believe. I love Rizzo but this team isn’t going going any where. Don’t really deserve to either.
Cubs were 4 games above .500 on May 1. They were 6 games above .500 on June 1. They’re now 13 games above .500. So not .500 ball since May.
The Pirates say “Your Welcome for us going 1-8 against you Cubbies. Sorry for winning that one game”
They were 11 games over .500 on May 14th. They were 9 games over .500 before winning their last 4 games. They were actually below .500 between May 14th and September 12th.
Please let’s try to split hairs even further. There were many days this season that the Cubs had a 0 winning percentage. 0! Many!
Compared to the red hot oakland a’s since may 7th when they got back matt olson healthy, theyve been 69-34. Not quite yankees and astros winning pace but not bad either
The cubs have only had one month where they were under .500 and that was June where they went 14-15 or one game under.
April 14-10
May 16-12
June 14-15
July 12-11
August 16-12
September 8-6 not counting tonight
So since May the Cub are 66-56 or 10 games over .500. Period. The end.
Again, the Pirates say your welcome for contributing 8 of the Cubs wins since the All Star break. They really feel bad for contributing 1 of the losses though.
no, not fractured
S word?
Probaly the best news you an get after he rolled his ankle like that yesterday. It is going to be very difficult to move forward without him. Huge loss!
Wow, the Pirates got destroyed in Chicago this weekend, but they still might have ruined the Cubs playoff chances.
Kind of like the Marlins last week when they were swept by the Brewers but might have ruined Milwaukee’s playoff chances when starting pitcher Elieser Hernandez shook off his catcher and threw a flat breaking ball that Christian Yelich fouled off his knee cap. OUCH!
As long as it’s not something that will linger past this season, it’s all good.
Team has more than enough firepower to win even without Baez & Rizzo. Maybe this is what it takes to “inspire”? They couldn’t get it together when all were healthy although that’s rarely been the case this year. A one-legged Bryant and delicate Contreras (hammy) minus Javy, Rizzo….
Time for Schwarbs, Happ, JHey, Castellanos to carry the freight.
More than enough.
Sounds like a 1-2 week injury with a chance to return for the NLDS. That’s much better than what it looked like it would be. The way St. Louis played last week against undermanned teams, I still like the Cubs chances for the division even without Rizzo.
We can hope but unlike the Pirates, the Cardinals still have some awesome pitching the Cubs will have to deal with for 7 more games. Missing Anthony Rizzo on top of Javier Baez will be a tall order for the Cubs offense. The Cubs pitchers need to show up big-time for the final two weekend series versus the hated Redbird.
I like the Cards chances of getting SMOKED in the playoffs, IF they make it.
hes lucky. Replay looked like his ankle snapped in two
Pretty sure there were Cubs fans who were happy when Yelich got hurt. Looks like karma bit them right back.
And there were Brewers fans who were happy when Baez got hurt. You’re going to have those people on every single team.
As an outsider here, I don’t recall seeing any negative comments about either injury on here. And if you mean just in general, yeah there are ***holes everywhere in this world
I don’t know how serious this is but if it is the Cubs should consider trading for Chris Gittens. I’m sure some might not agree but it wouldn’t cost much, maybe a slot of IFA money and young international prospect. I’m a fan of Rizzo especially for what he around Florida locally.
Why would they trade for a 25 year old in AA who has never appeared above it and wouldn’t be eligible for the playoffs? There has to be at least 50 better options both internally and on the market.
You’re right about the after sept adds lol but 50. I was thinking off the roster from other teams could be added. 50 is a joke. Calm down jr
He was on his way to a fifth straight season of 100 RBIs, but guess it won’t happen now.
The same thing happened to the first baseman on the other side of town last season. Jose Abreu missed 30+ games in 2018, mostly due to a non-baseball injury that no man wants to experience. Abreu rebounded nicely this season and comfortably leads the AL in RBI’s with 117 heading into the final two weeks of 2019. Abreu is only 1 RBI off the MLB lead as I post.
Got one
I have been a baseball fan for many, many years, I can’t remember a stretch like this over the past 2-3 weeks where so many players have encountered some nasty injuries. Baez, Yellich, Culberson, Rizzo just to name a few. Glad Rizzo didn’t rupture any ligaments or fracture anything that would require surgery. But ankle sprains can really linger on and be problematic. Hope all these players can recover and get well.
Oddly ironic. MLB juices the ball in 2019 while losing multiple MVP candidates.
Karma dished out by the disapproving gods of baseball, most likely Cy who watches over the pitchers.
Are you saying rizzo was an mvp candidate?
He’s garnered MVP votes every year starting in 2014. His WAR this year has exceeded last season’s, so I suspect he will keep that streak intact.
as a fan of the rival team is rizzo this years mvp no but year after year he’s in the discussion so in my eyes at least yes he is a mvp type player
Cubs pitchers will need step up big-time in the final two weeks of the regular season to offset the loss of Anthony Rizzo’s and Javier Baez’ bat and glove.
Blow Cubs Blow!
Bleed Cubs Blue indeed! Go Cubs!
Caratini, Bryant, Happ, Lucroy platoon at 1st. Rizzos bat and leadership are a major loss. It would be huge if someone like Caratini or Happ, who have the power, suddenly became hot for the stretch run. Heyward has already proved to be a clubhouse leader, but, If Castellanos could step up as a clubhouse leader and continue his offensive production and lead this team to the playoffs, he may twist the arm of the front office and force them to pay up this offseason. Either way, Castellanos is building quite a legacy for himself among Cub fans in such a short time. With Baez and Rizzo out, a strong run for the postseason will depend on someone stepping out of the shadows.
Cubs. Brewers are coming for you again! 😉
Man, this division is gonna be wild! Each team going for it in a 2-week season. Brewcrew & Cubs lose their MVP’s but can others step up?
Yelich more important to Brewers than Baez to Cubs but add in Rizzo and it tilts the other way.
This is why we love the game.
Whoever wins the NL central will get to the WS. The problem will be winning a game once they get there.
That assumes they make it thru the LAD. Pretty tall order.
That assumes LAD makes it out of the first round. That’s the best part about October baseball, nothing is guaranteed.
Closest thing to a guarantee in October is that the Cards beat the Dodgers. They OWN them in the postseason, and I’m NOT a Cardinasl fan.