The Ben Brown News Is Awful for the Chicago Cubs

Ben Brown is dealing with a neck strain on the left side of his neck, the same area where he developed a benign bone tumor called an osteoma in 2024. The Cubs have placed him on the 15-day injured list and shut him down for at least a month, and manager Craig Counsell gave an ominous update suggesting he could potentially miss the rest of the 2026 season.

Since moving to the rotation full-time on May 8, Brown posted a 1.70 ERA in eight starts. That was the third-lowest ERA among qualified starting pitchers over that stretch, behind only Jacob Misiorowski and Cristopher Sánchez.

In 2024, Brown initially was sidelined with a neck strain that was eventually diagnosed as an osteoma, a new piece of bone growing as a benign tumor on another piece of bone. The injury caused him to miss a little more than half of his rookie season.

After the month of inactivity, Brown would still need to build his arm back up, which puts his realistic return timeline somewhere in late August or early September. That timeline assumes there are no setbacks during his recovery.

The Cubs are 44-37 and remain in the thick of the Wild Card mix in the National League. The team already dealt for pitcher David Peterson, but will likely need more help before the trade deadline to stay in contention without Brown and Edward Cabrera.