CHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago Cubs have shut down right-hander Ben Brown for the rest of the season so he can fully heal from a stress reaction in his neck that has sidelined him since mid-June.
The 26-year-old Brown is 4-2 with a 1.85 ERA in 20 games this season, including his final eight as a starter after Chicago’s rotation was depleted by injuries. After shifting to a starting role, Brown was 3-1 with a 1.70 ERA.
The stress reaction flared after Brown tossed six innings and allowed two runs in a 16-2 win over Toronto on June 19 and he was placed on the IL. The same painful condition caused Brown to miss significant time in 2024.
Brown attempted to come back this season, but experienced discomfort during a throwing session on Aug. 25. That scuttled plans to send him on a minor-league rehab assignment and led to additional medical consultation and imaging.
“This is a bone injury," manager Craig Counsell said before Thursday’s game against Milwaukee at Wrigley Field. "There’s a healing, but just not enough to allow the discomfort to go away. So we just need to spend more time healing.
“In the case of bones, you just need to let them rest and some bones can heal slower.”
Counsell was optimistic Brown would be "a healthy player” in time for spring training.
Over three major league seasons with the Cubs, Brown is 10-13 with a 4.15 ERA and two saves in 60 games, including 31 starts.
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See AP’s full MLB coverage here
FILE - Chicago Cubs pitcher Ben Brown throws to a San Francisco Giants batter during the first inning of a baseball game, June 13, 2026, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall, File)
Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton and Oprah Winfrey are among a slew of politicians, celebrities, writers and activists who are lauding Gloria Steinem as a revolutionary and inspiring figure.
The celebrated author and activist, who became one of the most visible symbols and potent voices of the U.S. women’s movement, died Wednesday at her home in New York City. She was 92.
“To know her as a person is to know someone who was kind, sharp, and witty. She was invested in young women and keeping the door open for the next generation of leaders, and her advocacy was always about fighting for the strength, intelligenc, and dignity of women everywhere. She showed incredible support for women running for office, and I will always be grateful for her encouragement and support in my campaign for the presidency.” — the former vice president, on Facebook.
“Gloria Steinem was, at heart, an optimist. Her activism was rooted in optimism, and that’s a moral choice she made every day. Even though we’ve faced setbacks to women’s full participation and equality in America and around the world, I want Gloria’s voice to remain in our heads." — the former secretary of state, on social media.
“Every woman who has ever walked into a room knowing she belongs there; every woman who has demanded equal pay, equal respect, ownership of her own body, and the right to make her own choices; every girl who has grown up assuming that her dreams are hers to pursue — whether she knows Gloria Steinem’s name or not — is living, in some measure, inside the progress Gloria helped create.” — the media mogul and television producer, on social media.
"May it be a comfort to all of us who loved Gloria that her extraordinary legacy will live on in every generation that carries her fight forward.” — former Speaker of the House, on X.
"For decades, she trudged through every airport in the country, in sandals and a trench, carrying her own suitcase, packed with a few black clothes, hair curlers, and steam iron, in order to speak to women — at conferences, town halls, consciousness raising groups. No group was too small to deserve Gloria’s time. This is how she built the new women’s movement.” — actress and activist, on Instagram.
“Gloria Steinem understood that women’s equality begins with the freedom to make decisions about our own bodies, health, and futures. For decades, she fought to make that freedom real for generations of women and girls. She spoke up when it was difficult, listened to those whose voices too often went unheard, and never stopped pushing our country forward.” — the former first lady, on social media.
“Generational change doesn’t happen by accident or fate — it takes leaders like Gloria Steinem who work hand in hand with so many others to build a lasting movement.. What a light she was for me and so many others. What a debt we owe her.” — the philanthropist and businesswoman, on social media.
“The time I spent studying Gloria Steinem in order to play her was one of the most edifying of my life. Everything I watched, everything I read, everything I observed about her gave me a template for how I wanted to behave.” — the actor, who played Steinem in the 2020 film “The Glorias,” on Instagram.
“Privately, she was even better than you would imagine — spending Thanksgiving with our family, introducing me to one of my best friends (forever the champion of female friendship), loving our children with her whole heart, counseling me during hard times, and giving extraordinary advice and perspective with a cup of tea and an unrivaled cheekiness and wit.” — Duchess of Sussex, on Instagram.
“Gloria was one of a kind. Genuine, generous, curious, thoughtful. She lived a staggering life and her passing is a staggering loss tempered only by the ferocity of her legacy.” — the writer, commenting on Instagram.
“Everything Gloria did was rooted in kindness. It flowed through her political activism.” — her friend and fellow activist, to The Associated Press.
“Gloria, you changed my life. You seeded a fire in me that would result in my own activism. I am forever grateful to have learned from what you offered the world.” — the author and social justice activist, commenting on Instagram.
“An unstoppable visionary who demanded an equal role for females in a male dominated world and worked tirelessly, for decades, to bring that change about. The greatest irony was how many women she had to battle as they cowered behind their male owners. But battle she did. Equal rights! Freedom to choose! Access to political power! Equal pay for equal effort.” — the actor and playwright, on social media.
“I have done what I wanted to do with my life. That would not have been possible without Steinem and the scores of other feminists who it is no exaggeration to say radically reshaped America and the world.” — the author and feminist, in her Substack newsletter.
Gloria Steinem, cofounder of Ms. magazine, speaks on the political subjugation of women and the importance of organizing across racial and social differences, to an audience at the College of Marin in Kenfield, Calif., on Jan. 17, 1973. (Bill Young/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
FILE - Leading supporters of the Equal Rights Amendment march in Washington, July 9, 1978, urging Congress to extend the time for ratification of the ERA. From left are: Gloria Steinem; Dick Gregory; Betty Friedan; Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman, D-N.Y. (partially obscured); Rep. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md.; and Rep. Margaret Heckler, R-Mass. The women at far left and right are unidentified. (AP Photo/Dennis Cook, File)
FILE - Gloria Steinem attends the premiere of "Exodus: Gods and Kings" in New York on Dec. 7, 2014. (Photo Andy Kropa/Invision/AP, File)
Gloria Steinem, cofounder of Ms. magazine, speaks on the political subjugation of women and the importance of organizing across racial and social differences, to an audience at the College of Marin in Kenfield, Calif., on Jan. 17, 1973. (Bill Young/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
FILE - Feminist Gloria Steinem speaks at a rally organized by Women's March NYC in New York on Jan. 19, 2019. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)
