War Bear Injured in Collision with Fowler (Video)

It sucks to see anyone get hurt, let alone early in the season. To wit, the Cubs broadcast had showed a couple replays of AJ Pollock injuring his elbow on a headfirst slide during spring training. It was a pretty innocuous play too, one that you never would have suspected could result in a fractured elbow.

But when Jean Segura laced a ball into the gap in left-center and the camera panned out to show Kyle Schwarber and Dexter Fowler converging on it, there was no such doubt as to the possible implications of the play. As War Bear stretched to try for the catch, Fowler went low to avoid nuclear fusion. One shudders to think what would have come from a full-on collision, but the outcome was still stomach-churning.

Schwarber remained on the ground, writhing in obvious pain as the trainers came out and worked on his left leg. After more viewings than I’d care to admit, it became clear that Schwarber had rolled his ankle under his teammate. The below picture Adam Hoge tweeted out helped to confirm that.

Not good. pic.twitter.com/rtqUgEEH7W

— Adam Hoge (@AdamHoge) April 8, 2016

As of post time, the Cubs had not released an official update on War Bear’s health, but here’s to hoping it’s just a sprain.

UPDATE:

#Cubs say Kyle Schwarber is being evaluated for left ankle sprain, with initial X-rays coming back negative and MRI scheduled for tomorrow.

— Patrick Mooney (@PJ_Mooney) April 8, 2016