{"id":99555,"date":"2025-09-28T01:40:26","date_gmt":"2025-09-28T01:40:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=99555"},"modified":"2025-09-28T01:40:26","modified_gmt":"2025-09-28T01:40:26","slug":"chicago-cubs-take-major-hit-just-before-postseason-play-begins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=99555","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Cubs take major hit just before postseason play begins"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Chicago Cubs take major hit just before postseason play begins originally appeared on The Sporting News<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The Chicago Cubs\u2019 postseason plans took a major hit Saturday when rookie sensation Cade Horton was placed on the 15-day injured list with a rib fracture. The timing means the 24-year-old, who has been dominant since the All-Star break, will miss the upcoming wild card series against the San Diego Padres.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Horton\u2019s injury was as bizarre as it was devastating. He first hurt himself while coughing during an illness in Cincinnati last week. He left his start against the Mets after just two innings, and follow-up imaging revealed the rib issue. Though the Cubs initially hoped he could push through, his pain during bullpen work on Friday and Saturday forced the team\u2019s hand.<\/p>\n<p><strong>MORE<\/strong>:\u00a0Aaron Judge makes more MLB history on Saturday<\/p>\n<p>Before the setback, Horton had quickly become Chicago\u2019s most reliable starter, going 8-1 with a sparkling 1.03 ERA over his last 12 starts. His performance made him the frontrunner for National League Rookie of the Year, and he was widely expected to get the ball in Game 1 of the postseason. Now he won\u2019t be eligible until at least a potential Game 5 of the division series.<\/p>\n<h2>Next man up<\/h2>\n<p>With Horton sidelined, the Cubs are scrambling to adjust. Matthew Boyd looks like the likely Game 1 starter, with Shota Imanaga, Jameson Taillon, and Colin Rea also candidates to take the mound during the series.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Chicago opens its best-of-three wild card showdown with the Padres on Tuesday. Losing Horton changes the look of the rotation, and it puts added pressure on the bullpen to keep things steady. The Cubs\u2019 lineup will need to shoulder more of the load as they try to advance without their breakout ace.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>More MLB News:<\/strong><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Not good for the Cubs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":99559,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[112,1856,282,1398,1242,960,1238,3879,292,117,1362,3770],"class_list":["post-99555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb","tag-aaron-judge","tag-cade-horton","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-cincinnati","tag-colin-rea","tag-jameson-taillon","tag-matthew-boyd","tag-rib-fracture","tag-san-diego-padres","tag-shota-imanaga","tag-the-mets","tag-wild-card-series"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Chicago Cubs take major hit just before postseason play begins - 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=99555\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chicago Cubs take major hit just before postseason play begins - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Not good for the Cubs.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=99555\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-28T01:40:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/avtvip-70-4.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MrThanh\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MrThanh\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=99555\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=99555\",\"name\":\"Chicago Cubs take major hit just before postseason play begins - 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