Cubs send Jason Heyward to hospital after leaving Sunday’s game

Chicago Cubs right fielder Jason Heyward went to the hospital on Sunday night after leaving the game. Hopefully, he won’t miss much time.

In this shortened 60-game season, Chicago Cubs right fielder Jason Heyward might be having the best season of his career. However, during the Cubs’ loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday night, he hit a bump in the road:

The Cubs cannot afford to lose Heyward

Since signing an eight-year deal with the Cubs prior to the 2016 season, Heyward has received a lot of criticism for not hitting as much as was expected. Indeed, by far his most famed accomplishment with this club prior to this season was the motivational speech he gave during the rain delay of Game 7 of the 2016 World Series.

However, Heyward may have started to turn a corner last year, hitting the most home runs and driving in the most runs he had since 2012 with the Atlanta Braves. Now this year, at age 31, he might be finally having that breakthrough season we’ve all been expecting, batting .300 with five home runs and 17 RBIs. His .955 OPS would top his previous career-high of .849 set during his rookie season of 2010.

Of course, the health and concern of Heyward are what is most important here; given the times we’re living in, we can’t be too cautious and have to hope that he will be okay. Yet from a baseball standpoint, losing Heyward for any length of time would be a big blow to a team that is clinging to a 1.5 game lead in the NL Central and seeing subpar seasons from many of their stars including Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Javier Baez, and Willson Contreras.

Heyward is still regarded as a great teammate; he’s made an impression on newcomer Jason Kipnis:

Let’s hope that this is nothing serious and that we’ll see Heyward back on the field soon as the Cubs continue their push to win their first division title in three years.