The Cubs will survive the loss of Kyle Schwarber for the season with torn ligaments in his left knee, and Schwarber will return next year with the same drive and determination he has shown throughout his brief career.
But there's no question the news of Schwarber's injury Friday was a punch to the gut of Cubs Nation, which fell in love with the genial slugger who looked like the guy on the next bar stool.
Tears of the anterior cruciate ligament and lateral collateral ligament were discovered Friday after Schwarber had to be carted off the field Thursday night at Chase Field in Phoenix following a collision with center fielder Dexter Fowler. The Cubs feared the worst, and those fears were confirmed with the MRI results.
The loss of Schwarber for the rest of the season will test the Cubs' depth, but because they kept Jorge Soler and Javier Baez last offseason instead of dealing them for pitching, they should be OK.
Still, Soler looked awful in the switch from right to left field during spring training, and even assuming he hits like he's supposed to, he probably will have to be pulled from games late for a defensive replacement.
Matt Szczur is the obvious choice there, and because he's off to a hot start offensively he may even challenge Soler for starts. Kris Bryant is also an option, with Tommy La Stella playing third, or Baez once he returns from his own minor setbacks.
But Bryant has proven he's an adept fielder at third, and moving him to left for an extended period would weaken them in the infield while putting more wear and tear on their young star.
The psychological impact of Schwarber's absence already was being felt Friday. Fans of a certain age had flashbacks to the ill-fated 1985 Cubs team that was expected to cruise to the World Series and complete the job they failed to do in 1984.
But reigning Cy Young winner Rick Sutcliffe went on the disabled list on May 20 with a partial tear of his left hamstring while running to first base, saying "I felt like I had been shot." The next day, starter Steve Trout was diagnosed with an inflamed ulnar nerve in his left elbow and a week later outfielder Gary Matthews had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee.
The injuries piled up over the course of the disappointing season. The Cubs finished 77-84 and didn't return to the postseason until 1989.
That doesn't mean the 2016 Cubs are fated to follow the same nightmarish road. But when a franchise is synonymous with curses and missed opportunities, the default reaction to such setbacks usually can be summed up in two words:
"Oh, no."
That this setback happened to the 23-year-old Schwarber, a fan favorite and one of the more well-liked players in the clubhouse, makes it even harder to cope with.
He was a quiet, young man when he came up from the minors last summer and slowly grew more outgoing as he became an integral part on a playoff-bound team.
This year, he had settled into his comfort zone on Day One of spring training.
"It's a little bit different feel because I know everyone now," Schwarber said when camp opened in Mesa, Ariz. "Last year my eyes were wide open. Keep my head down and talk when I'm spoken to. Now I can give my input here and there and not feel uncomfortable. I'm going to be me, and I think people respect that."
The legend of Schwarber began when he went 4-for-5 with a triple on June 17 in Cleveland in his first major league start. When a fan threw a can of beer at him in left field at U.S. Cellular Field last August, Schwarber joked he should have picked it up and shotgunned it.
Schwarber finished with 16 home runs in 232 at-bats and five more homers in the postseason, including a two-run shot in the wild-card victory in Pittsburgh, and the memorable "Schwarbomb" that landed atop the right field video board at Wrigley Field in the clinching Game 4 of the National League Division Series.
The Cubs marketing department covered the ball in a Plexiglas case for the rest of the postseason, immortalizing the blast as some renamed the video board the "Schwarboard."
The legend only grew in February when Schwarber smashed a windshield with a long batting practice home run at their spring training facility in Mesa, then dented another car with another prodigious shot.
"You can't pay attention to that kind of stuff," Schwarber said of the "legendary" tag. "Once you start paying attention to that stuff, that's when you start getting a big head. I'm always going to stay the same person I am. Always know where you came from -- a small town in Ohio -- treat people the same way, just like I'll treat you.
"I'm never better than anyone. This can keep going on, (but) if the fans like me better, I'm still the same me."
That won't change. You can be sure of that.
But a long and grueling rehab process is now in Schwarber's future, and hopefully the knee injury doesn't prevent him from fulfilling his dream of becoming an every-day catcher down the road.
Injuries are part of the game, and the Cubs simply had the misfortune of suffering a devastating blow only three games into their season.
Now we'll find out how they handle adversity.
