Chicago Cubs Ace Out for the Rest of 2026 Season

Well, this fucking sucks. There’s no way around it. The Chicago Cubs are worse off now as manager Craig Counsell confirmed the unfortunate news that fans have been dreading since Friday. Right-handed starting pitcher Cade Horton will miss the rest of the 2026 season after only making two starts.

Horton will undergo elbow surgery.

Craig Counsell announces Cade Horton will miss the season and undergo elbow surgery.

— Sahadev Sharma (@sahadevsharma) April 7, 2026

The 2022 first-round pick previously had Tommy John surgery when he was at Oklahoma. In his rookie season, Horton posted a 2.67 ERA in 118 innings and finished runner-up in National League Rookie of the Year voting.

At this point, a second Tommy John surgery has not been confirmed for Horton. There’s a chance he gets the same elbow procedure that Justin Steele had in April 2025. Steele, who is set to return in late May or early June, had a UCL revision repair in his pitching elbow that ended his season last year.

The Cubs are currently dealing with two injured starters in the rotation, as Matthew Boyd was also placed on the 15-day injured list earlier this week. Boyd and the Cubs expect him to only miss the minimum time on the injured list. Javier Assad, who is starting Tuesday, was called up to replace Boyd, while Colin Rea will be slotting into Horton’s turn in the rotation until further notice.

(Previous Update)

The ominous pre-update to the real update on Cade Horton dropped on Tuesday morning, and it was pretty much the last thing anyone wanted to see. Things sound bad for the right-handed pitcher as the Chicago Cubs are seemingly preparing for the worst.

ESPN’s Jesse Rogers was on the Kap & Hood Show on Tuesday, when he shared the latest intel on Horton’s injury. The Cubs placed their second-year starter on the 15-day injured list this past weekend after he left his start on Friday because of forearm discomfort.

After having an MRI, it sounds bad for Horton and the Cubs.

**Breaking News** Per @JesseRogersESPN on Kap and JHood on @Espn1000 Cubs star Cade Horton will visit Dr. Keith Meister in Texas today after his MRI was not clean and not good. Trending down a bad path.

— David Kaplan (@thekapman) April 7, 2026

The 24-year-old was the team’s best starting pitcher in the second half of the 2025 season, and there were high expectations for him this year. Now, all we can do is anxiously wait for the ha