Not Good: Justin Steele Got Hit By a Comebacker, Left the Game

The headline says it all: Justin Steele was hit by a comebacker and had to leave the game. I’m freaking out. Impossible not to with such a key player this close to the start of the regular season.

The ball seemed to go off of Justin Steele’s left knee, and he went down immediately:

Justin Steele exited today’s game after getting hit in the leg. pic.twitter.com/7FhiShr9jg

— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) March 22, 2024

Justin Steele Hit By Comebacker

The pain was evident on Steele’s face throughout his interaction with the athletic trainer.

Steele was helped up, and walked extremely gingerly off the field. We’ll find out what we find out in time, but for now, yeah, I’m freaked. You hope it was just a really painful ball-on-bone situation or something, but not anything with longer-term impacts. The Cubs were obviously not going to even think about having him staying in a fake game, though I’m not sure it looked like he would have anyway. As a reminder, Justin Steele was announced as the Cubs starter for Opening Day against the Rangers in less than one week. Not good.

UPDATE: WHEW. Justin Steele shared that he’s going to be all right in the most delightful way possible:

I’m okay.. my bracket is not

— Justin Steele (@J_Steele21) March 22, 2024

We are here for busted brackets, not busted knees. Thank goodness.

The official diagnosis for now is a knee contusion (i.e., bruise):

Justin Steele exited with a left knee contusion, per #Cubs

— Andy Martínez (@amartinez_11) March 22, 2024