Entering play on Tuesday, the Chicago Cubs sit five games behind the Milwaukee Brewers, the division leaders in the NL Central. But the Cubs hold a commanding lead over other wild-card clubs and are on the brink of clinching their first playoff berth since 2020.
They likely will do so without star outfielder Kyle Tucker on the diamond.
Tucker has been missing from the Cubs’ starting lineup since Sept. 2, when he exited their game against the Atlanta Braves in the sixth inning with tightness in his calf. Manager Craig Counsell has not received much encouraging news about Tucker’s health status since he was placed on the team’s injured list a week later (retroactive to Sept. 6).
Counsell says ‘not much progress’ has been made in Tucker’s recovery from calf strain
Tucker could have been activated from the Cubs’ 10-day injured list as soon as Monday, but that did not prove to be the case. He did some light running before that day’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, but Counsell said before first pitch that "not much progress, frankly" had been made in Tucker’s recovery.
"We’ll see if we can move forward," Counsell said, via the Chicago Tribune’s Meghan Montemurro. "If not, we’ll just be kind of status quo until we can have some improvement on the symptoms."
Tucker expressed both his frustration with his lack of progress and his desire to return to regular baseball activities as soon as possible.
"It’s not really where I want it to be, which isn’t ideal, but I’m just trying to get back to feeling at least as close to game-ready as possible to get out there," Tucker said. "All I want to do is just play baseball. So whatever I can do to try and get back to that, I’m trying to do, but it hasn’t gone as quickly as I would have hoped."
Should his injury linger, Tucker's absence early in the postseason would be a significant blow to the Cubs' chances for advancement. The brief nature of three-game first-round series would give him a shorter runway to getting himself game-ready, thereby increasing the risk of further injury should he rush himself back to health.
Tucker has been one of the Cubs' most productive players this season and remains among its top five hitters in a number of statistical categories — including batting average (second, .270), OPS (first, .853), home runs (tied-fourth, 22), doubles (fourth, 28), stolen bases (third, 25) and RBIs (fifth, 73) — despite sitting out the past two weeks due to injury.