CHICAGO (AP) — Cubs third baseman Alex Bregman could play again in the regular season after he sustained multiple facial fractures when he was struck in the face by a foul ball on Sunday.
Chicago manager Craig Counsell said Bregman did a light workout in the weight room on Tuesday and tracked pitches from a machine in a batting cage. There are no plans to place him on the injured list.
“He’s got still significant swelling in his face and his eye that needs to improve,” Counsell said. “But all things considered, he’s in a good place.”
Bregman was on deck in the fourth inning of a 9-1 win at Cincinnati when he was hit on the left side of his face on Michael Busch's check-swing foul ball. Bregman immediately jogged toward the Cubs’ dugout and covered his face before going back to the clubhouse with an athletic trainer.
“When everything was going down on Sunday afternoon, I think that we all thought the worst case might be a possibility,” president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said. “And all the news since then has been really good. He’s had a lot of different doctor’s appointments, and they’ve been positive. And I think we have to take it one step at a time.”
Pedro Ramírez was in the starting lineup at third for Tuesday night's game against Miami. Matt Shaw also could fill in at third while Bregman is out.
The Cubs can clinch an NL wild card with a win over the Marlins or a loss by Arizona at Colorado.
Following their series opener against Miami, the Cubs have five games left in the regular season. But the schedule for their weekend series at Boston is in flux because of heavy rain in the forecast.
“I think Alex is going to be fine. I really do,” Counsell said. “The guy is ... he's driving home from Cincinnati and he wants to play. So he’s planning on playing. He knew he had to get some good news from the doctors. He got that good news. So he’s going to do everything in his power, and as long as I think symptoms don’t kind of increase or happen as he increases activity, I think you’re going to see him play.”
Bregman is batting .262 with 26 homers and 89 RBIs in 153 games during his first season with Chicago. The three-time All-Star signed a $175 million, five-year contract with the Cubs in free agency.
The 32-year-old Bregman got off to a rough start in his new home, hitting just .229 with two homers in his first 20 games. But he has been one of Chicago's most productive players since the All-Star break, batting .305 with 17 homers and 48 RBIs in his last 57 games.
Bregman also has excelled in the postseason in the past. He won two World Series championships with the Houston Astros. He appeared in at last two postseason games in each of the previous nine years.
“To see a friend and a teammate just get hit in the face and bleeding like that is awful,” Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner said. “I think his reactions to everything has been uplifting, just him being relentlessly aggressive and positive and speaking out, all the things that he's excited to do.”
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Chicago Cubs' Alex Bregman celebrates after a one-run single during the first inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Kareem Elgazzar)
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Green Bay Packers offensive tackle Zach Bako-Bewele has a torn patellar tendon and expects to miss the rest of the season.
Bako-Bewele, who changed his name from Zach Tom before the season, hurt his right knee in the first quarter of the Packers’ 20-17 overtime road victory over the New York Jets on Sunday. The 27-year-old right tackle said he is planning to undergo surgery Thursday and that he believes the recovery should take about nine months.
“It’s definitely not what I anticipated happening, but you’ve just got to get back to work and then start thinking about next year,” Bako-Bewele said Tuesday.
Packers receiver Jayden Reed and Bako-Bewele were carted off the field after consecutive plays during Green Bay’s opening series. Reed remained in a New Jersey hospital overnight for observation rather than traveling back home with the team after suffering what the Packers described as a neck injury.
Green Bay coach Matt LaFleur said Tuesday that Reed had returned to Green Bay and was going through testing and consulting with doctors. LaFleur added that Reed was in good spirits when they spoke after the game.
LaFleur said it's too early to tell whether Reed might play again this season.
“He’s just got a lot, I mean, there’s a lot going on," LaFleur said.
Bako-Bewele was blocking David Bailey during a third down incompletion when the injury occurred. Bako-Bewele said he wasn’t sure exactly what caused the injury, but he knew right away that something was wrong.
“I mean, I don’t think the turf helped,” Bako-Bewele said. “Yeah, I don’t know. Just something that happened, so I’ve just got to move forward.”
Bako-Bewele had partially torn his patellar tendon in the same knee during a Dec. 14 loss at Denver and missed the rest of the 2025 season. The injury occurred during the same game in which Packers All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons tore his anterior cruciate ligament.
Bako-Bewele said this latest injury is a complete tear.
“We see him working, grinding in here long hours just for the chance to come back to play with us, and to go down like that, that’s terrible,” center Sean Rhyan said.
When he’s healthy, Bako-Bewele perhaps is the Packers’ best offensive lineman. The 2022 fourth-round pick from Wake Forest has made 53 starts, including 48 over the past four seasons.
Anthony Belton took over for Bako-Bewele at right tackle during the Jets game. Belton started six games at right guard and one at right tackle as a rookie last season, but he primarily worked at tackle during training camp this year.
“I didn't want to say that we knew this would happen, but just in case,” offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said. “Unfortunately, it did happen, and (Belton) stepped in and did a nice job. Expecting him to just anchor down the right side and do a great job.”
Belton appeared on the Packers' injury report with an elbow issue Tuesday, but LaFleur expressed confidence that the 2025 second-round pick from NC State would be available for the Packers' Thursday night home opener with the Atlanta Falcons (0-2).
Bako-Bewele might not be the Packers' only starting offensive lineman missing Thursday night. Left guard Aaron Banks, who missed the Packers’ season-opening loss at Minnesota because of a knee issue, started Sunday’s game but left in the first half with a toe injury.
LaFleur addressed Banks' status for Thursday by saying that “we'll give it up to gametime.”
Green Bay (1-1) has allowed seven sacks over its first two games. The Packers also rank last in the NFL in yards rushing per game (64.5) and 29th in yards per carry (3.3).
Now the Packers are dealing with more upheaval on their offensive line.
“It's just like putting a puzzle together, but that’s the situation,” LaFleur said. “And we’ve got to do the best that we can to go out there and play winning football. Nobody cares about the circumstances. It is a circumstance, and you got to work around it.”
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Green Bay Packers guard Zach Bako-Bewele (50) is tended to on the field during an NFL football game against the New York Jets in East Rutherford, N.J., Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Green Bay Packers guard Zach Bako-Bewele (50) is taken off the field following an injury during an NFL football game against the New York Jets in East Rutherford, N.J., Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
