The Cubs’ Pitching Injured List Is Absolutely Wild Right Now

It feels much too early in the season for a ballclub to be dealing with the amount of injuries that the Chicago Cubs organization is, but here we are.

Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell (11) leaves the dugout after a game against the Washington Nationals at Wrigley Field. | Matt Marton-Imagn Images

There are always early-season concerns from organizations and their fans when a team experiences a slow start and injuries start to unexpectedly pile up.

The Chicago Cubs might be the only team in baseball whose cries are 100 percent valid.

Unless someone actually put eyes on the injured list of the Cubs, nobody would believe the pitching crisis that is going on inside the clubhouse. And it isn't just the starting rotation that has been gutted by injuries, but the bullpen as well.

Chicago Cubs pitcher Cade Horton | Andrew Dolph / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

15-Day IL

• RHP Ethan Roberts- Right middle finger laceration
• LHP Matthew Boyd- Left bicep strain
• LHP Jordan Wicks- Left forearm radial nerve irritation
• RHP Phil Maton- Right knee tendinitis
• RHP Hunter Harvey- Right tricep inflammation
• RHP Cade Horton- right UCL in the elbow (done for the season, will eventually be moved to 60-day)
• RHP Porter Hodge- right flexor strain
• RHP Daniel Palencia- left oblique strain

60-Day IL

• LHP Justin Steele- surgery recovery from UCL surgery in 2025
• RHP Shelby Miller- right UCL (likely not to pitch this year)

It is also important to note that the Cubs' No.1 prospect, Jaxon Wiggins, also was moved to the injured list recently with inflammation in his elbow. Wiggins' debut was looking close on the horizon after the injuries to Horton, Boyd, and Steele were still months out, but that is no longer the case.

Biggest hit is to the bullpen

If one were to choose what the largest pill to swallow is right now, between the rotation and the relievers, it is with the relief staff. The three names that jump off the page are Harvey, Maton, and Palencia.

Chicago Cubs pitcher Daniel Palencia (48) throws a pitch against the Milwaukee Brewers in the sixth inning during game three of the NLDS round for the 2025 MLB playoffs at Wrigley Field. | Matt Marton-Imagn Images

Those three were going to be, and still could be, a three-headed monster for the Cubs this year. Instead, Craig Counsell is trying to win games with no-leverage players, as most of the relievers right now are young guys with very little, if any, experience in tight game situations.

Somehow, someway, the Cubs are still finding themselves able to win games. Had they not been in the NL Central, easily the toughest division in baseball, as no team is under .500, Chicago would find itself fighting for the top spot.

It is nearly unfathomable what Counsell and the Cubs are trying to navigate right now, this early into the season. If it had to happen, it is better now than in September, and Counsell is doing his best to keep this team afloat.