Things Are Looking Bad for Seiya Suzuki

Son of a bitch. I didn't want to say it then, but of course having any sort of oblique issue is bad and that's exactly how things are looking for Cubs outfielder Seiya Suzuki, who was scratched from the team's first spring training game on Saturday.

Suzuki was the talk of Cubs camp through the first week, as he showed up looking a lot stronger after putting on 20 pounds of muscle in the offseason. He also made a slight change at the plate and Cubs fans were getting excited about him recruiting Shohei Ohtani at the World Baseball Classic. Well, right now Cubs fans are just hoping Suzuki's oblique injury isn't too serious because as each day passes the news gets worse.

On Saturday, Suzuki was scratched from the starting lineup with left oblique tightness and then he was out again on Sunday. He had an MRI taken on Sunday, and supposedly the team would have an update on Monday. Well, Monday's games came and passed, Suzuki didn't play once again, and it wasn't until Monday night when we got a new update.

I try to be as optimistic as possible, but there's no sugar coating this one. Things just aren't looking good for Suzuki, who has now withdrawn from playing in this year's World Baseball Classic. We will know much more about the severity of Suzuki's injury on Tuesday, when both he and Cubs manager David Ross will address the media.

So yeah, right now it's looking like Suzuki will be shut down for at least a couple of weeks. Japan was set to play in its first World Baseball Classic game on March 9, which is 10 days from now. I am speculating, but that sounds reasonable to me right now. We'll know for sure on Tuesday, when Suzuki and Ross speak to reporters.

This absolutely sucks for Suzuki and the Cubs. I mean, and for fans as well. There was so much optimism heading into spring training from the majority of the fan base after the team's irrelevance for a few years. Yeah, maybe the front office didn't make all the big moves we wanted, but there were plenty of reasons to be positive about and that included projecting Suzuki to be a big breakout candidate in 2023.

And now we're just hoping Suzuki isn't forced to miss a long period of time with what can be a nagging oblique injury. Fingers crossed I guess that maybe Suzuki will only be behind schedule for a couple weeks, but at this point it probably is safe for the team to be cautious and if he won't be ready for Opening Day, that's just something they'll have to deal with and not force him back too fast.

This sucks. FUCK!

And yeah, it's a moderate oblique strain, which will most likely mean Suzuki will begin the season on the injured list.