Chicago Cubs: Injuries pose the largest threat to this year’s Cubs

With Opening Night just days away, the Chicago Cubs are already battling a nemesis: the injury bug the team largely avoided during their 2016 World Series run.

Spring Training has gone fairly smoothly to this point. The Chicago Cubs have answered the rotation question, which remained the one big question mark heading in. The real focus that gets overlooked has been the subtle injuries to both Ben Zobrist and Addison Russell.

Zobrist and Russell and both dealing with stiffness in the neck and back, respectively. Although these don’t present itself as a serious concern, I can’t help but feel like the Cubs are playing on thin ice.

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The nasty side-effect of winning a championship is the extended time it adds to your season. The Cubs played an additional seventeen games in the postseason. Most of which were high-stress environments. The grind of a 162-game season and postseason coupled with the participation in the World Baseball Classic and the recipe is made. The Cubs have played a lot of baseball in the last 12 months.

I have all the faith in the medical staff of the Cubs. But my trust in approach doesn’t protect these players from the excessive mileage they have garnered since last season. Is this a call for panic? Of course not. But a nagging injury can plague an athlete.

Anthony Rizzo has missed time the past two seasons with back stiffness. Regardless of that fact, Rizzo has done a fine job of coming back. Only time will tell how Zobrist and Russell will respond to the injuries. The fact of the matter is we could start the season without two reigning All-Stars at full strength.

The Chicago Cubs have the depth at just about every position to recover from an injury. It would take an epidemic rash of injuries before we seriously discuss this team not making the postseason. Will Kyle Schwarber‘s knee hold up all year?

Next: Is Montero dead weight on this year's club?

Can the rotation avoid any missed time? In addition to Zobrist and Russell, these are legitimate questions that will be answered. As the Cubs embark on another quest for a title, we will remain vigilant to the peaks and valleys that occur throughout the season.