Ben Brown’s season is over.
Cubs manager Craig Counsell told reporters Tuesday that the right-hander will not return before the end of the year after dealing with a stress reaction in his neck. Brown has already been on the 60-day injured list, and he’ll remain there through the finish of the season. Taylor McGregor of Marquee Sports Network was among those who relayed the update.
The news isn’t a surprise, even if it’s still a tough hit for Chicago. Brown had recently been slowed by a return of symptoms tied to the injury, and with only a few weeks left on the schedule, the clock was already working against him.
Even in a best-case scenario, he would have needed time to build back up after such a long layoff. With the symptoms still hanging around, the Cubs are choosing to shut him down and turn their attention to next year.
That’s especially disappointing because Brown had carved out a strong breakout season before the injury interrupted him. He opened the year in the bullpen, then forced his way into the rotation after solid work and a wave of pitching injuries around him created an opening.
He made the most of it. Across 20 appearances and 68 innings, Brown allowed 1.85 earned runs per nine.
His ERA as a starter sat at 1.70, while he posted a 2.10 mark in relief. He also turned in a 24.5% strikeout rate, a 7.2% walk rate and a 44.6% ground ball rate, all a bit better than league average.
For a while, Cubs fans could picture a postseason rotation built from names like Brown, Shota Imanaga, Edward Cabrera, Justin Steele, Matthew Boyd and Cade Horton. That idea has been steadily whittled down.
Horton had Tommy John surgery and is out of the picture. Steele may still return from last year’s UCL surgery, but it would be in relief rather than as a starter.
Cabrera is on the injured list with ongoing blister problems and is likely to return as a reliever too. Brown is now out of the starter conversation as well.
That has left Boyd and Imanaga as the remaining options in the mix, while Chicago had to work the trade market over the summer to patch things together. The Cubs added Kevin Gausman, Clay Holmes and David Peterson in separate deals, and that trio will be part of how they piece together the rotation from here.
Brown’s setback also removes a possible relief option for the stretch run, but the bigger focus now is getting him fully healthy for 2027. That’s where the Cubs could have room for him to make a real push, especially with a number of rotation spots in flux.
Imanaga, Gausman and Peterson are all impending free agents. Boyd has a 2027 mutual option, though it’s been more than a decade since one of those was exercised by both sides, so he should be treated like an impending free agent too.
Holmes has a $12MM player option, and if he stays healthy and effective, he is expected to decline it.
Brown would fit into a larger group of uncertain arms that also includes Cabrera, Steele, Colin Rea, Javier Assad, Braxton Garrett and others. The Cubs are expected to keep adding to that pool this winter through free agency or trades, but there should still be a path for Brown to earn a long look if his health cooperates.
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Alex Bregmans injury during the game after being hit in the face by a foul ball and taken to the hospital added an abrupt layer of concern to a night that otherwise tilted Chicagos way. For the Cubs, the bigger picture is clear enough, but the chase is not finished yet, and the path to the postseason still runs through one more result that could settle everything. [Read more 🡒]