Cubs Play Down Injury After Pulling Rookie Cade Horton From Start After 29 Pitches

The Chicago Cubs said their rookie ace was dealing with back tightness.

Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images

The Chicago Cubs dropped their fifth consecutive game since clinching the postseason last week on Tuesday night in the series opener against the New York Mets. There is starting to be concern about the team playing their worst baseball at the worst time, however there could be a far greater concern.

Cubs rookie Cade Horton was the starter on Tuesday, but he was pulled from the game after just 29 pitches with what was described as back tightness by the team. While the game was still going on, this set off a five alarm fire in Chicago and set fans into a complete panic as the team's best pitcher right now was said to have a back issue less than a week before the playoffs.

After the game though, both Horton and Cubs manager Craig Counsell talked the fans off the ledge a bit and explained it was precautionary as the young right-hander has dealt with an illness that's impacted things.

Counsell and Horton Explain Why Rookie Left Start

Sep 20, 2025; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell (11) stands in the dugout during the game against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park. | Aaron Doster-Imagn Images

"We’ve had a couple guys sick," Counsell said via Patrick Mooney of The Athletic (subscription required). "The illness has caused [Horton] to be coughing a lot. That may be it. That’s what we feel like it probably is. We wanted to be extra careful during the start tonight, so we stopped it...We’ll see how he feels tomorrow. The next couple days will be important. He wanted to keep going tonight, and we said no."

While explaining what happened from the player point of view, Horton revealed that it was an issue of breath which caused him to tighten up.

"In between innings, my breath started to bother me," Horton said. "I just wanted to get on top of it early while we have time, rather than keep going and potentially harm the next start...The breathing started to play a factor. Everything started to tighten up. I just did not want to jeopardize next week."

The rookie went on to say he "absolutely" would have stayed in the game if it were a playoff game, and answered the question everyone wanted to know if he would be ready to go for next week's first career postseason start.

"For sure," he said via Mooney when asked if he had enough time to regain his health for either Game 1 or Game 2 of the Wild Card round. "That's why we made the move we did tonight."

Horton Has Been Dominant For Cubs Over Second Half

Sep 3, 2025; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Cubs pitcher Cade Horton (22) throws the ball against the Atlanta Braves during the first inning at Wrigley Field. | David Banks-Imagn Images

Horton has established himself for Chicago as not only their best pitcher as of late, but a prime candidate to win the National League Rookie of the Year. With a 2.67 ERA, 1.085 WHIP and an 11-4 record over 23 appearances, the 24-year-old has struck out 97 and walked just 33 over 118 innings pitched.

In his 12 starts after the All-Star break, Horton has pitched to an absurd 1.03 ERA and 0.99 WHIP with an 8-1 record, keeping the rotation afloat by himself at times over a rocky second half for the offense.

Having him healthy and ready to go is going to be absolutely critical if the Cubs have any chance to make a deep run this October. Hopefully both he and Counsell were correct and there's not a problem beyond a minor illness going aroung the clubhouse.

If they aren't, Chicago could be in some very deep trouble.

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