The last quarterfinal game between Japan and Venezuela is on, but in the first inning itself, Seiya Suzuki’s abrupt exit from the field took enough toll on the Cubs fans. Considering last year was the career high for Suzuki with 32 HRs and 103 RBIs with the Cubs, Suzuki’s injury seems to hurt the Cubs more than Team Japan. And Cubs Nation’s panic is evident all through social media.

“Seiya Suzuki limped off the field after getting caught stealing to end the first inning,” Fox Sports shared the clip via X.

The clip shows how Seiya Suzuki got thrown out trying to steal second. But appeared to get hurt on a really awkward slide into the base. He had reached base with a walk and then tried to take second with two outs while Kazuma Okamoto was at the plate, but that slide was scary.

At first, Suzuki was ruled safe, but after a review, the call was overturned. And when the second inning started, he didn’t return to the field and was replaced in center by Shota Morishita.

Right now, there hasn’t been any further update on how serious the injury is. And this is only making Cubs fans more anxious. And watching the replay is pretty concerning too. Suzuki clearly struggles to walk off the field, and it doesn’t look good.

What makes it even more worrying is that something similar happened before. Back during the 2023 WBC, Suzuki suffered an injury that forced him to miss the entire tournament and even the early part of the regular season with the Cubs. Unfortunately, this situation feels like a repeat of that, only this time it looks even more severe.

Apart from having career-high stats last year, Suzuki was a big reason Chicago made it back to the MLB playoffs. And he continued the same with Japan in the WBC. In his first four pool-play games, he’s been on fire, hitting .333 with a .600 on-base percentage and a huge 1.600 OPS, while also blasting two home runs and driving in five runs.

Now, considering the reactions online, fans are already worried about what this could mean for the Cubs if Suzuki has to miss significant time.

Suzuki’s injury caused a Cubs meltdown

Cubs fans are wondering how impactful Seiya Suzuki’s injury would be for the team. “How big of a loss would that be??” One fan asked. “That’s his knee…that’s either an all-season issue or have surgery now. Either way, the Cubs just lost half his production for the season,” another added.

In baseball, knee injury is a serious business. They threaten the key instincts like baserunning and sliding, which means a long off from the field. Now, looking at how Seiya Suzki walked off the field, the scene is surely uneasy, and if fans are right, the Cubs might just have lost half of their production with Suzuki. But still, till the time another update comes, fans’ anticipation would spiral. “Cubs fans rn holding their breath,” one fan agrees.

“Does the emperor pay his salary to the Cubs???” One user asks. That’s the old debate about whether MLB teams should release players for their WBC duties. Before this WBC, enough discussions were done about the absence of names like Cody Bellinger and Roki Sasaki from their national duties. However, the risk is evident as with Seiya Suzuki.

So the fans wonder if the Cubs would be financially compensated by Samurai Japan, at least a part of Seiya Suzuki’s salary.

“Caught stealing and injured? That inning couldn’t have gone worse,” one user remarked. Yes, neither Suzuki took any hit, nor was he running to the home plate. It was just a base steal that caused the injury. Arguments can be made over if that was entirely avoidable, but well, that’s what baseball stands for.