SAN DIEGO — Just nine days after suffering eight broken bones in his face, third baseman Alex Bregman was back in the Chicago Cubs' lineup Tuesday facing the San Diego Padres as the designated hitter for Game 1 of the National League wild card series.
Bregman, who began taking ground balls the past few days after suffering the injury Sept. 20 when a foul ball by teammate Michael Busch hit him in the face while standing near the on-deck circle, tried to convince Cubs manager Craig Counsell that he was good enough to play third base with the swelling in his face dramatically reduced.
Yet, Counsell said that Bregman’s bat is too valuable to take the risk of Bregman being back in the field.
“I played it safe, I'll be honest with you," Counsell said.
“I just think this is a man seven days off of facial fractures, and I want his at-bat. I think his at-bats are the most critical thing for our team is that he gets his at-bats this series. That's what's most important.
“I feel like this is a better way to guarantee that he gets these at-bats. There's just more risk playing the field. Could it go fine? Yeah. Does he want to play the field? He does. This is just a safer way to go to make sure he gets all his at-bats."
Still, just the fact that Bregman is back in the lineup so quickly, his teammates say, is a huge boost for their morale, much less their lineup, where he’ll bat second.
“That fires you up,” Cubs MVP Pete Crow-Armstrong said. “Knowing him and how wonderfully crazy he is, just about his work and how much he loves the game, it’s not really surprising. Not to put a damper on how cool it is that he’s coming back after facial fractures and whatnot, I’m just not that surprised.
“He lives for this kind of baseball. Most importantly, I’m glad he’s healthy enough to do what he loves. …Simply put, Alex Bregman makes our lineup better. So, it’s huge that he’s getting himself game ready.”
Certainly, he proved in the Cubs’ season-finale that his bat is just fine, going 4-for-4 with two home runs.
“I’ll do whatever it takes,’’ said Bregman, who finished his first year with the Cubs hitting .265 with 28 homers, 93 RBI, and an .819 OPS in 155 games. He had a sensation second half, producing a 1.010 OPS compared to a .696 OPS before the All-Star break.
Now, he becomes the 11th player in MLB history to play in 10 consecutive postseasons with the advent of the wild-card.
“He's the man, to be honest,’’ Cubs reliever Jaco Webb said. “That's tough to do. That's really cool and shows the kind of character that he has going through such a crazy injury.
“I mean, you're putting your career on the line at that point, but he knows what he's doing. The biggest thing is he wants to be here. He wants to win."
Cubs starting lineup today: Game 1 vs Padres
- Pete Crow-Armstrong (L) CF
- Alex Bregman (R) DH
- Michael Busch (L) 1B
- Seiya Suzuki (R) RF
- Ian Happ (S) LF
- Nico Hoerner (R) 2B
- Pedro Ramírez (S) 3B
- Carson Kelly (R) C
- Dansby Swanson (R) SS
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What happened to Alex Bregman? Scary injury can't keep Cubs slugger from MLB playoffs
