A gruesome facial injury to Alex Bregman threatens the North Siders’ postseason momentum as they fight to secure home-field advantage just days before the Wild Card opener.
The Chicago Cubs will be heading back to the postseason for the second consecutive year.
The Cubs' magic number to clinch a Wild Card spot is just one game. That means if the Cubs beat the Miami Marlins at home on Tuesday or if the Diamondbacks lose to the Colorado Rockies on the road on Tuesday, the North Siders will officially clinch a playoff spot.
Right now, Chicago owns the top Wild Card spot in the National League. The Cubs are technically tied with the San Diego Padres for that spot, but owning the head-to-head tiebreaker gives them the edge for the top spot. The Philadelphia Phillies are then one game behind those two teams in this tight Wild Card race.
The Cubs will obviously be playing for seeding this week. Getting that top Wild Card spot and earning a three-game home series is pivotal. Last year, Chicago took care of business in the Wild Card Round at home against the Padres.
But the team did catch an unfortunate break on Sunday with the postseason right around the corner.
With Michael Busch batting at the plate in the top of the fourth inning of Sunday’s win, the lefty slugger checked his swing on a ball inside. Busch made contact with the ball, and it traveled toward the backstop.
That ball then made direct contact with Alex Bregman’s face. The veteran third baseman immediately ran toward the Cubs’ dugout with his hands in his face, and the trainers came over with a towel to try to stop the bleeding.
To no surprise, Bregman left that game early. He was taken to a local hospital where he received immediate treatment. The ball hit him directly in the cheekbone, and his face has swelled up significantly.
Bregman has posted two updates on his Instagram story over the past 12 hours. He posted a story late on Sunday night and again on Monday morning once he was back in Chicago. Those photos can be seen below.
The swelling seems to have gone down a bit since last night. That's obviously a good sign. However, Bregman can really only see out of one eye right now. He certainly won’t be ready to play when the Cubs open a three-game series against the Marlins on Tuesday.
It remains to be seen when Bregman will be able to play next. The Cubs will continue to treat him and hope the swelling goes down each day. Timing is definitely not on his side, as the Wild Card Round begins in just eight days.
The team hopes he can return to the lineup by then.
