Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports
Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports

Schwarber to join Cubs for potential World Series return?


by - Senior Editor -

Cubs catcher Kyle Schwarber will be headed to play on Saturday night for the Mesa's taxi squad in the the Arizona Fall League. Schwarber will DH tonight as he has cleared to hit but will not play in the field as they slowly bring him along. He was cleared by the doctor that did his surgery on Monday and headed to Arizona on Wednesday.

Schwarber has been sitting out the majority of the 2016 season as he rehabs from his torn ACL and LCL in his left knee. He has improved significantly in the last month during his rehab and now Cubs officials are confident on the next step in his full recovery for 2017. Since he is cleared to hit, this means that a DH role is a possibility for Schwarber in the World Series if the Cubs make it that far. It's obvious that the Cubs are thinking about this idea since they pulled him from cheering on his team in a possible clinching game of the NLCS at Wrigley Field. His return is a real possibility, folks.

Cubs officials will not comment until they see him take some at-bats in the fall league and reexamine how well he is running out of the batter's box.

The Cleveland Indians will have home-field advantage in the World Series so the winner of the National League will have four games to use a designated hitter. The first World Series game starts Tuesday in Cleveland.

In 2015, Schwarber hit .246 with 16 home runs, 43 RBIs with an excellent .842 OPS in only 69 games (273 at-bats) in his rookie season. In nine career postseason games, he hit .333 with five homers in only nine games.

Update: Cubs skipper Joe Maddon said there's a "chance" that Schwarber could play in World Series.

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