It was probably asking too much to expect that Alex Bregman would want to wait until this weekend to return after multiple facial fractures in his left cheek.
Bregman was already showing impatience on Wednesday and told reporters he was hoping to get an at-bat in the night game against the Miami Marlins in the potential postseason clincher at Wrigley Field.
Craig Counsell heard about Bregman’s request later and paused for a moment when asked if it was a realistic possibility.
“Um, no, he’s not going to get an at-bat,” the manager said. “He’s not.”
That’s Counsell, always spoiling the media narrative with his insatiable appetite for doing what’s best for the team, ignoring the potential of a drama-filled moment.
“Well, I thought about it last night,” he continued. “We were laughing, (Bregman) got geared up late in the game because he was so fired up. He was like, ‘I was unsure if you were going to yell at me …’
“No, he’s doing well, but we’ve got to take some steps here. I’m excited about how he feels, and he’s excited. But he still needs to feel some things. He hasn’t run around yet, and he’s got to do that. He’s got to know what it feels like.”
Bregman spoke to the media Wednesday for the first time since taking a foul ball off his left cheek in Sunday’s win in Cincinnati. He avoided surgery but suffered multiple facial fractures and had to be driven back to Chicago instead of flying. There were small lacerations visible under his left eye on Wednesday, and his eye was still blackened, making it look like he’d spent a couple rounds with Mike Tyson.
The initial jolt of pain was excruciating, Bregman admitted.
“I kind of just looked down and felt like I got hit by a baseball bat to the face,” he said. “The pain has been fine. I guess I fractured something right by the nerve in my face, so the whole left side of my face has been a little bit numb. As soon as the swelling goes down, I’m sure I’ll feel the breaks a little bit more.
“It started last night because the swelling is going down, and I felt that this morning when I woke up. All in all, I’m super lucky it hit where it hit, and a lot of gratitude because a few centimeters higher and it could’ve been detrimental.”
Bregman said he never thought about a “worst-case” scenario when it happened, and just hoped nothing was broken. Now he considered himself to be “in a good spot,” making him anxious to return.
“We’ve got really good news the last two days,” he said. “So overall I’ve been very lucky, and I’m very thankful to all the doctors and everybody that helped out.”
More Top Picks Best 4k Tvs
Bregman said he’s feeling a little better every day. Wednesday was what he described as a “normal” work day — hitting off the Trajekt machine — after spending Tuesday tracking off the machine, which replicates velocities and spin rates of pitchers.
He said he planned to test out some different batting helmets that would protect his left cheek, and didn’t feel it would take long to adjust to one. He’s had no issues seeing, and there was no damage to his eyesight, which allowed him to use the Trajekt machine to track pitches.
“I see it great,” he said.
Bregman hoped to take grounders in a day or two, though it seems likely he would return in a designated hitter role, at least initially, instead of going straight back to third base.
Bregman had played in 153 of the Cubs’ 156 games before missing Tuesday’s loss to the Marlins, which denied the Cubs the clincher. Kevin Gausman faced the Marlins on Wednesday with the Cubs in a three-way tie with the Philadelphia Phillies and San Diego Padres in the National League wild-card race, and a magic number of one to get in.
Even before the injury, Bregman hated being out of the Cubs’ lineup.
After a slow first half in which he repeatedly said his numbers would be there by the end of the season, he rebounded to his normal All-Star level, as he predicted. On Wednesday, Bregman ranked second in major-league RBI in the second half with 48, trailing only Pete Crow-Armstrong’s 54. He was also fifth in OPS (.978) since the break, and third in WAR (3.4), while playing Gold Glove Award-caliber defense.
“Super tough,” he said of sitting. “Yesterday was brutal. I wanted to play.”
Asked about the biggest hurdle of his recovery, Bregman said he wasn’t sure, then mentioned the feeling of constant movement in his upper face.
“There’s a lot of fluid in my face over there,” he said of his left side. “So if I move, the fluid moves. So if I’m bouncing up and down, my face feels like it’s bouncing up and down.”
Counsell said it was “not a surprise” that Bregman was impatient about returning, but noted the severity of the injury forced them to take it slow.
“We’ve got to understand what he has, and you’ve got to be careful,” Counsell said. “We’ve got to go through the proper channels here and (take) the proper steps.”
Bregman’s first game back could be Friday in Boston, where he played in 2025 before exercising an opt-out clause in his contract and signing a five-year, $175 million deal with the Cubs. Due to the possibility of a nor’easter, the Cubs will now play a doubleheader against the Red Sox on Friday at Fenway Park, avoiding a potential cancellation on Sunday.
It would be easy for the Cubs to sideline Bregman until the postseason out of an abundance of caution, giving him extra time to heal. No one would bat an eye, except perhaps for Bregman.
More Top Picks Best Kids Gaming Chairs For Boys
President Jed Hoyer said Tuesday, “getting hit again is a concern, but most of the significant bad things have been avoided.”
Why risk it when he’s such an important part of the lineup?
That’s a question the Cubs might have to ask themselves as he tries to get back as quickly as possible. The playoffs are what’s important now, and it’s hard to imagine the Cubs being the Cubs without Bregman’s presence in the lineup.
But for now they’re deferring to Bregman, which creates the possibility of a dramatic return to Fenway Park with a nor’easter on the way and the Cubs fighting for home-field advantage in the wild-card round. Maybe Theo Epstein will even make an appearance.
John Updike couldn’t come up with a more appropriate way to bid the Cubs’ regular season adieu.