As the Chicago Cubs will face the San Diego Padres in the NL Wild Card game, the team will need as many reinforcements as possible, with the team looking to make some noise. With the rumors around the return of Cubs star Kyle Tucker, it turns out fans won't have to wait long at all to watch the impact player.
According to Jesse Rogers of ESPN, Tucker would tell him that he will be “in the lineup” for this afternoon's game against the St. Louis Cardinals. The last time he played in a game for Chicago was Sept. 2, as he has missed time with a calf injury.
“Back at Wrigley for me today: Kyle Tucker (calf) says he is indeed in the lineup, as expected. He last played on Sept. 2,” Rogers wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Friday's contest had been the expected return date for Tucker, as mentioned by MLB insider Jon Morosi of the MLB Network, who mentioned that the approach was to see if the star's explosiveness came back.
” [Tucker] was able to get some physical therapy and really some intensive work with the Cubs' athletic training staff to make sure he can run and be explosive,” Morosi said on Thursday. “The expectation is that he'll be back in the lineup on Friday for the series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals and just see what he can offer to this team.”
The Cubs offense broke out with 10 runs against the Mets last night and they're about to get even better…@jonmorosi reports the latest on Kyle Tucker's return to action. pic.twitter.com/lE6CQ6JM0n
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) September 25, 2025
How Cubs' Kyle Tucker could play coming off injury in September
At one point, it seemed that the Cubs didn't know when Tucker would come back from the calf injury, as so far this season in 133 games, he has recorded a .270 batting average to go along with 22 home runs and 73 RBIs. Manager Craig Counsell even said last Sunday that Chicago was looking to figure out “if” Tucker would be available this season, via The Athletic.
“We’ll have to just kind of assess progress at that point,” Counsell said Sunday. “We’ve got to figure out when and if he’s going to be available.”
However, the return from injury in September could be deja vu in a good way, as coming from a shin issue last year, he would produce solid numbers in 18 games with a .365 batting average and four home runs.
At any rate, Tucker comes back as there are three games left in the Cubs' season.
