Medical marvel left in a pinch

CHICAGO — Any damage Kyle Schwarber is going to inflict on the Indians in Games 3, 4 and 5 of the World Series will come as a pinch hitter.

After consulting with team doctors, the Cubs have decided against using Schwarber in the outfield at Wrigley Field. Schwarber was the DH and Cubs’ hitting star in the first two games of the series in Cleveland, after returning from a 6 1/2- month absence caused by torn ligaments in his left knee, including the ACL.

“The doctors were very convicted that there’s just too much risk in playing the outfield because of the dynamic actions involved,” Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein said Thursday. “The instantaneous reactions, the need to cut in the outfield, the dynamic, athletic movements that are unanticipated in the outfield, your instinct in reacting to balls that just aren’t the case when you’re running the

bases.”

Schwarber is 3-for-7 (.429) with two RBIs in the series. He took batting practice Thursday and stood in left field with a glove, but made no effort to shag balls.

“It’s not disappointing at all,” Schwarber said. “It was a long shot at the most. Obviously I want to be out there with my teammates — it’s just the competitor inside me — but facts are facts. I just can’t physically do it. So I am going to be ready at any time during the game to go out there and pinch hit.”

Schwarber, who wasn’t expected back until next spring training, said the seed was first planted about a potential return for the World Series about eight days ago.

“I had the doctor’s visit and it was just an annual checkup and I was joking around the trainer, so you type up questions,” Schwarber said. “And I wrote at the very bottom, ‘World Series?’ just jokingly and [the doctor] is the one that actually brought it up to me. I’m just going to soak it in, embrace it, and keep going with it until it ends.”

As much as the Cubs would l ove to h ave Schwarber’s potent lefty bat in the starting lineup, the team has no shortage of pop to compensate.

“We won 103 games,” Epstein said. “We have all the faith in the world in our other outfielders and on top of that we now have Kyle off the bench to take maybe the most important at-bat in the game at any given point.”