Key Cubs player could be nearing a rehab assignment at the perfect time

As the Chicago Cubs enter the final weeks of the regular season, they might be getting a valuable player back just in time for the playoffs in Miguel Amaya. The question is whether he might return from the IL before the season is over or get back just in time for the beginning of the Wild Card playoff round.

Amaya has had a nightmare season, going on the injured list in May with a strained oblique. In August, he came back to the Cubs, and his activation was considered a shot in the arm to a team struggling after the trade deadline. However, in his first game back with Chicago, he suffered an ankle injury and went right back on the IL. Since that second injury, there haven't been a ton of updates on when the club can expect him back.

Will Miguel Amaya return to the Chicago Cubs before the postseason begins?

On Friday, a correspondent with the Chicago Cubs' minor league organizations, Rich Biesterfeld, took to X (formerly Twitter) and said that he wanted to answer some questions he'd seen about the status of Miguel Amaya.

Biesterfeld went on to say the Cubs catcher has been hitting, catching, throwing, and running the bases this past week at Sloan Park, the team's Spring Training facility. The correspondent went on to say he wouldn't be surprised if Amaya finally began a rehab assignment "this next week."

With exactly two weeks left in the season, if Amaya does begin a rehab assignment this week, it's certainly possible he could return to the Chicago Cubs by the final week of the regular season and then be ready to roll as the team begins the playoffs.

In other injury news, the Cubs are not expected to activate Kyle Tucker off the IL when he is eligible on Tuesday. Seiya Suzuki, who had been dealing with an illness this weekend, will be making the trip with the Cubs to Pittsburgh this week, and the expectation is that Michael Soroka will be activated off the IL during the team's road trip.