Cubs lose star pitcher Justin Steele for season in crushing injury blow

One of baseball’s champion teams conscionable mislaid a awesome portion to its 2025 puzzle.

The NL Central-leading Chicago Cubs suffered a reliable rustle pinch ace lefty Justin Steele needing season-ending Tommy John surgery, nan squad announced Sunday.

Steele was initially expected to miss conscionable a fewer weeks aft experiencing tendinitis for nan 3rd clip since past year, but nan Cubs opted for imaging to shed much ray connected nan persistent injury.

The 29-year-old antecedently underwent Tommy John room successful 2017, per ESPN, and it’s unclear if he’ll request nan ligament replaced aliases a revision surgery.

Either way, Steele’s 2025 play is complete and his 2026 will beryllium affected owed to nan lengthy rehab process.

“He’s sewage a awesome cognition astir it, arsenic he ever does, and knows that it’s benignant of portion of nan profession that he’s chosen,” Cubs head Craig Counsell told reporters. “And conscionable return it a measurement astatine a clip and do nan champion he tin to travel backmost moreover better.”

The lefty ends 2025 pinch a 3-1 grounds to spell on pinch a 4.76 ERA aft posting a career-best 3.06 ERA successful 2023 and pursuing pinch a 3.07 ERA past season.

Steele vanished 5th successful NL Young voting successful 2023.

The Cubs, who are disconnected to an 11-7 start, will now surely beryllium successful nan marketplace for a starting pitcher, pinch Miami’s Sandy Alcantara expected to beryllium nan apical pitcher disposable this season.

For now, nan Cubs will thin much connected Shota Imanaga, Jameson Taillon, Matthew Boyd and Ben Brown, pinch Colin Rea stepping into nan rotation and starting his first crippled Sunday against nan Dodgers.

The North Siders person an early two-game lead up of nan Reds and Brewers successful nan NL Central.