The Chicago Cubs made one of the biggest investments in franchise history when they handed Alex Bregman a five year, $175 million contract last offseason. Six months later, they may have to begin their postseason run without the exact player they paid to help get them through October.
Alex Bregman injury comes at awful time for Cubs
Bregman was standing near the on deck circle Sunday when Michael Busch checked his swing and sent a foul ball directly toward him. The ball struck Bregman beneath his left eye, sending him to the hospital for X rays and a CT scan.
The diagnosis provided good news and bad news. Bregman suffered multiple facial fractures, but he will not need surgery and reportedly remains hopeful he can return during the postseason. The problem for Chicago is that "during the postseason" leaves an enormous amount of uncertainty with October nearly here.
This isn't simply losing another bat for a few games.
Bregman has hit .262 with 26 home runs, 89 RBI and an .804 OPS across 153 games this season. More importantly, he was playing some of his best baseball when he went down. Over his previous 45 games entering Sunday, Bregman had 15 home runs and 41 RBI while batting .291 with a .998 OPS.
That's the version of Bregman the Cubs were expecting to take into October.
Alex Bregman got hit in the face with a foul ball on the on-deck circle and left the game pic.twitter.com/FIUgoddH1M
— Talkin' Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) September 20, 2026
Cubs don't have an easy way to replace Bregman
Chicago can cover third base. Replacing Bregman is another conversation entirely.
Pedro Ramirez moved to third after Bregman left Sunday's game, while Matt Shaw entered off the bench. Both give Craig Counsell options if Bregman misses time, and Gabriel Arias could also factor into the equation. None gives Chicago what Bregman has provided in the middle of the lineup.
That's where the $175 million figure becomes impossible to ignore.
The Cubs didn't make that investment because they needed someone capable of standing at third base for 162 games. They paid Bregman because of everything that comes after those games. He's a two time World Series champion with extensive postseason experience, and Chicago brought him in while trying to turn a talented roster into one capable of making a legitimate October run.
Now Counsell could be forced to enter the postseason asking younger players to fill one of the most important spots in his lineup.
Bregman injury puts pressure on rest of Cubs lineup
Bregman's absence wouldn't simply leave Craig Counsell searching for a third baseman. It would force the Cubs to find production elsewhere in a lineup that has grown accustomed to having him planted in the middle of it.
That's where this becomes more complicated than plugging Matt Shaw or Pedro Ramirez into Bregman's spot and moving along.
Pete Crow-Armstrong has put together a monster season, while Michael Busch and the rest of Chicago's lineup have provided plenty of production around him. But postseason baseball has a funny way of exposing every missing piece. One cold stretch from a couple of hitters suddenly looks much different when Bregman isn't there to lengthen the lineup.
Chicago paid $175 million for more than a third baseman. It paid for another hitter opposing pitchers couldn't comfortably work around in October.
Without Bregman, Counsell doesn't just have a hole at third. He has to figure out how to keep one missing bat from making the entire lineup easier to navigate.
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