{"id":174123,"date":"2026-04-07T22:07:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T22:07:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=174123"},"modified":"2026-04-07T22:07:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T22:07:17","slug":"%f0%9f%9a%a8-a-heartbreaking-outlook-doctors-prediction-on-cade-horton-casts-shadow-over-cubs-season-a-rising-stars-journey-suddenly-feels-fragile-%f0%9f%91%87-chicago-hol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=174123","title":{"rendered":"\ud83d\udea8 A HEARTBREAKING OUTLOOK: Doctor\u2019s Prediction on Cade Horton Casts Shadow Over Cubs Season \u2014 A Rising Star\u2019s Journey Suddenly Feels Fragile \ud83d\udc47 Chicago Holds Its Breath: What Once Looked Like a Bright Future Now Feels Uncertain \u2014 Fans Quietly Fear What Comes Next."},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\">\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/cade-horton-sports-doctor-injury-news.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/cade-horton-sports-doctor-injury-news.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/cade-horton-sports-doctor-injury-news.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/cade-horton-sports-doctor-injury-news.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Cubs Cade Horton Update: Top Sports Doctor Issues Prediction on Rest of Season\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" \/><\/figure>\n<div>\n<p>Getty<\/p>\n<p>Cubs injured ace righty Cade Horton could miss the rest of the 2026 season, a top sports medicine doctor says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Chicago Cubs ace Cade Horton went on the 15-day injured list Sunday. Two days later, a top sports medicine doctor predicts that Horton will miss the rest of the 2026 season.<\/p>\n<p>When he left Saturday\u2019s game against the Cleveland Guardians after just 17 pitches with what the Cubs described as \u201cright forearm discomfort,\u201d Horton sounded optimistic that the injury was not serious.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m pretty hopeful,\u201d Horton said at that time. \u201cI\u2019m erring on the cautious side so I feel like I made the right move, even though it sucks doing that and putting the bullpen and everybody else in that situation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But on Tuesday, prominent Florida-based sports medicine specialist Dr. Jesse Morse issued a far more dire prediction.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCubs ace Cade Horton likely done for the season with an elbow injury,\u201d Morse wrote on his social media account.<\/p>\n<p>What happened in between Saturday and Tuesday, and what does it mean for the Cubs\u2019 season if Horton is truly done?<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Horton Travels to See Top Elbow Surgeon: Report<\/h2>\n<p>Horton was set to undergo an MRI exam on Monday, but the Cubs never released the results. Instead, Chicago general manager Carter Hawkins told a Chicago radio station Monday that the results could come in \u201cthis week,\u201d but there was no timeline for when.<\/p>\n<p>But on Tuesday, reporter Jesse Rogers of ESPN said that he was told that the results of Horton\u2019s MRI were dire.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe news to this point is not good. I want to make sure I report it carefully here, because no decision has been made, but the MRI per multiple sources: \u2018not good, not clean,\u2019\u201d Rogers said in an interview, as quoted by the Cubs news site Bleacher Nation. \u201cAnd so he is going to see Dr. Keith Meister today, that\u2019s the Tommy John guy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Horton traveled to Texas on Tuesday, according to Rogers, where he would consult with Meister, a top elbow specialist and former head team physician for the Texas Rangers.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Morse: Horton Will Need Elbow Surgery<\/h2>\n<p>The visit with Meister was described as Horton seeking a \u201csecond opinion.\u201d But according to Dr. Morse, seeing Meister likely means that surgery will be necessary for Horton.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is likely an injury to the UCL, whether it is a partial or full-thickness tear,\u201d Morse wrote. \u201cDr. Meister is one of the top elbow specialists in the country and the question will come down to if he should have an internal brace procedure or if he needs full Tommy John surgery.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The internal brace procedure typically carries a shorter recovery time than Tommy John surgery, which entails a full reconstruction of the Ulnar Collateral Ligament.<\/p>\n<p>The UCL is \u201ca strong band of tissue on the pinky finger side of your elbow,\u201d according to the Cleveland Clinic. \u201cThis ligament supports your elbow joint. You use it when you raise your arm to throw something overhead.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Typical recovery time for Tommy John surgery entails a pitcher missing an entire season and often part of a second season. The internal brace operation requires about half of that recovery time.<\/p>\n<p>Either way, Horton would be sidelined for at least the remainder of the 2026 season, leaving the Cubs scrambling to fill the void in their starting rotation left by the team\u2019s 2022 first-round draft pick.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/os\/en\/athlon_sports_articles_610\/8c9fbb0a763959d445f7f852efd054f6\" alt=\"Cade Horton MRI Update Raises Concerns About Cubs' Rotation - Yahoo Sports\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Jonathan Vankin JONATHAN VANKIN is an award-winning journalist and writer who now covers baseball and other sports for Heavy.com. He twice won New England Press Association awards for sports feature writing. He was a sports editor and writer at The Daily Yomiuri in Tokyo, Japan, covering Japan Pro Baseball, boxing, sumo and other sports. More about Jonathan Vankin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getty Cubs injured ace righty Cade Horton could miss the rest of the 2026 season, a top sports medicine doctor says. Chicago Cubs ace Cade Horton went&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":174124,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-174123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>\ud83d\udea8 A HEARTBREAKING OUTLOOK: Doctor\u2019s Prediction on Cade Horton Casts Shadow Over Cubs Season \u2014 A Rising Star\u2019s Journey Suddenly Feels Fragile \ud83d\udc47 Chicago Holds Its Breath: What Once Looked Like a Bright Future Now Feels Uncertain \u2014 Fans Quietly Fear What Comes Next. - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=174123\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\ud83d\udea8 A HEARTBREAKING OUTLOOK: Doctor\u2019s Prediction on Cade Horton Casts Shadow Over Cubs Season \u2014 A Rising Star\u2019s Journey Suddenly Feels Fragile \ud83d\udc47 Chicago Holds Its Breath: What Once Looked Like a Bright Future Now Feels Uncertain \u2014 Fans Quietly Fear What Comes Next. - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Getty Cubs injured ace righty Cade Horton could miss the rest of the 2026 season, a top sports medicine doctor says. 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