This is the Most Grueling Stretch of the Cubs' 2024 Schedule

There are no guarantees in baseball, and certainly, there is no guarantee that the Cubs' injury problems won't get worse. They have Justin Steele, Julian Merryweather, Seiya Suzuki, Cody Bellinger, and Jordan Wicks on the injured list already, but that doesn't exhaust the risk of such issues on this roster. Thus, rather than even try to look ahead to the uncertain times (very soon, perhaps, for Steele and Bellinger; longer for the rest) when that crew will return, the team and its fans need to focus on cobbling together wins and sustaining health for the next several weeks.

From April 12 through May 19, the Cubs only have two off days. That's five and a half weeks in which they must come to the park 36 times in 38 days, and it's not as though that stretch is light on travel. (They started it amid their West Coast swing two weeks ago. This East Coast road trip to Boston and New York only takes them to the halfway point.) However, after it ends, things really open up for them.

While weather could always effect changes, the Cubs currently have a couple off days in the back half of May; three of them in June; three more (plus the four-day All-Star break) in July; a staggering five open dates in August; and three in September. In a sense, the dog days have come early for this team. If they make it through this gauntlet in good shape, they'll have ample opportunity to maneuver and convalesce over the final two-thirds of the season.

Easier said than done, as this weekend forcefully reminded them. Taking a blowout loss on the chin, then feeling the sharp blow to the funny bone that was Wicks's trip to the injured list, the team got a glimpse of how they could suffer a May swoon very similar to last year's, even with what they've tried to convince themselves is a deeper team and what everyone agrees is a better manager.

If the team doesn't find ways to stretch its rotation to six men for at least some portions of the next three weeks, they're going to pay a price for it. Maybe they already have, with Wicks going down, but Shota Imanaga could easily end up in the same boat if not given a better chance to steadily acculturate to the tighter turnaround between starts in MLB. They also need to suss out who will be able to provide them some competent offense at third base, DH, or in the outfield, to improve the rotations Craig Counsell has already been trying to use to avoid suffering team-wide burnout in a difficult early schedule patch.

There might be players (like Richard Lovelady, who was called up to fill the recently vacated 40-man roster spot and give the team emergency depth from the left side in the bullpen) whom the team is more willing to burn in April or May than they would have been in the past. If this is the segment of the schedule with fewer chances for rest than any other, then now is as good a time as any to pull the trigger on a player without the ability to be sent back down, once called upon.

We've already seen Garrett Cooper lose his place in the organization to the needed injury replacements and desirable roster rejiggering this April docket has impelled. We could see Lovelady, Carl Edwards Jr., Colten Brewer, and/or Julio Teherán depart via DFA by Memorial Day. If they help the team get to June fresher and healthier than they are right now, though, those expenditures will have been well worth it. In the second half, the Cubs can turn to prospects who are still forging themselves and wouldn't be ready even if called upon this week, like Cade Horton and Matt Shaw.

A 17-11 start is a pretty good sign, and given the strength of the Cubs' schedule and the fact that they weren't full strength for any of it, that generality holds up to these specifics. The next 20 or so games will tell us much, though, and it's hard to discern what they'll tell us at this juncture.