Cubs News: Justin Steele update, Jonathon Long injury, spring training triple play

Chicago Cubs baseball being back just feels good, even when it's sitting at the grocery store waiting to pick up my order as the Giants' radio broadcast team fumbles their way through mid-game defensive changes, pinch-runners and the likes.

Cubs spring training news: A very weird chain of events on Sunday

But, hey, nobody had a tougher day on Sunday than the Cubs on the basepaths. There were numerous instances where things went sideways between on that front, but none more eye-catching than the triple play Chicago hit into in the first inning against San Francisco that came on the heels of fire alarms going off in the ballpark that sent some fans heading for the exits.

The Cubs dropped to 0-3 in Cactus League play, so we might as well cancel the season now, amirite? (Calm down, it's just a joke). Miguel Amaya and Dylan Carlson both had two-hit showings, which was good to see. File it under 'weird spring training baseball things': Chicago drew ten walks in the game, struck out only three times and still lost. Baseball gonna baseball.

Justin Steele continuing to make good progress in his recovery

All signs continue to point in the right direction for Cubs southpaw Justin Steele, who is expected back at some point in the first half of the season - although we don't yet have a definitive timeline.

“I’m feeling very good. Bullpens have been progressing well lately. I’m throwing two a week, Tuesdays (plus) Fridays and/or Saturdays. I had one yesterday (Friday), recovering well from that. The next one will be 35 pitches. Throwing four-seam, sinkers, and sliders right now. I’m gonna be introducing changeups into the bullpens next week, I believe. At that point, I’ll be at curveballs to play catch. That’s kind of the progression were going with as far as getting pitches back into the game mound.”

Clearly, he's not 100 percent ready to roll, but continuing to get good news on Steele is definitely something to be happy about. At his best, he's one of the game's grittiest performers - and if the Cubs can get him back and ramp him up so he's ready for October, it would be a huge addition to an already deep pitching staff.

Jonathon Long suffered elbow sprain in scary spring training collision

Highly-regarded infield prospect Jonathon Long left the Cubs' loss to the Rangers on Saturday after a brutal-looking collision at first base after a throw pulled him into an oncoming baserunner. Thankfully, it appears he's avoided a worst-case scenario, with a diagnosis of a left elbow sprain.

Despite a strong 2025 showing at Iowa, Long doesn't have a clear path to everyday reps with the big-league club. Michael Busch is the everyday first baseman and Moises Ballesteros will get reps at first during camp - but if he keeps putting up numbers at Iowa, it won't be long before he gets the call to Chicago.

We'll likely get more info this week on the severity of the sprain, but at least for now, it seems like things could have been much, much worse.