Daniel Palencia is trying to not look too far ahead.
That can be difficult for any player with less than three weeks left in the regular season and the playoffs looming. For Palencia, the uncertainty of whether he will be able to rejoin the Chicago Cubs bullpen before the end of the season creates a greater emphasis on staying focused on the day to day as he recovers on the injured list from a right shoulder strain. Friday represents a key test to gauge how his shoulder has progressed since he first felt “a pop or something” while pitching the ninth inning of Sunday’s loss at Wrigley Field.
The weird and frustrating part, Palencia said, is his shoulder had felt fine that morning and while warming up. Palencia is expected to throw before the Cubs’ series opener Friday against the Tampa Bay Rays. Manager Craig Counsell indicated that throwing session would help the team determine a possible timeframe for Palencia’s return.
Palencia’s mindset is to get back by the last week of the season and be ready for the playoffs.
“The hard part to me is I just want to help the team and right now I can’t,” Palencia said Monday. “Seeing those guys how they are playing, and with me out, it’s just frustrating for me. But just trying to do my stuff, to do all my recovery stuff with my therapist and all that, and try to be back as soon as possible.
“It’s been a long season. This is a year I’ve been throwing more and throwing those innings are stressful sometimes so maybe it was that, also maybe (my shoulder) got tired.”
Counsell won’t be anointing a closer to fill Palencia’s role while the 25-year-old is sidelined. He expects to use a mix of options that most likely will involve veteran right-hander Andrew Kittredge, who got the save Wednesday, left-hander Drew Pomeranz and right-hander Brad Keller, depending on what pocket of the other team’s lineup is due up in the ninth.
Keller called it gut-wrenching to see Palencia deal with his injury, adding that it’s a blow to the entire bullpen. The Cubs have been able to find the right mix of relief arms this year to help weather injuries to the rotation and offensive inconsistencies, with Keller constantly delivering huge outs.
Keller has been nearly unhittable in the second half. He hasn’t allowed a run in his 21 appearances since the mid-July All-Star break while surrendering just four hits, six walks and striking out 26 in 21 1/3 innings. Keller owns the longest active scoreless innings streak by a big-league reliever. The 30-year-old’s performance — a 2.13 ERA and 181 ERA+ in 61 outings — is particularly impressive given 2025 is his first full season pitching in relief.
Keller wasn’t sure how his body would respond to needing to be ready to pitch every day and didn’t really have a relief routine heading into the season. He leaned on the more veteran relievers to help understand what approaches might work best. Before this year, Keller had never made more than 14 appearances out of the bullpen in a season.
Cubs reliever Brad Keller heads to the dugout after throwing against the Braves in the ninth inning on Sept. 1, 2025, at Wrigley Field. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
He pitched in three consecutive games for the first time during the Cubs’ three-city trip at the end of August.
“Overall, I’m really happy with how I bounce back, how my body feels in September,” Keller said. “I’m happy with everything and feeling like my stuff has been holding steady still, making some tweaks here and there. I feel like over the last couple outings started to get better feel for the sweeper again, which has been been big.
“It’s been fun. It’s a new experience, new outlook on things. So I’ve just been going with the flow, really happy with how it’s gone.”
The Cubs bullpen has been among the league’s most valuable since the beginning of August, amassing a 1.9 fWAR that ranks fourth in the majors during that span.
While Palencia is a loss, perhaps one of the most encouraging developments over the last week is how electric right-hander Porter Hodge’s stuff has looked. Coming off a dynamic rookie season in which he recorded nine saves and 1.88 ERA in 39 appearances, Hodge started to struggle in mid-April, then dealt with two stints on the injured list. His last three outings, however, were arguably among the best he has pitched this year.
In Wednesday’s 3-2 win against the Atlanta Braves, Counsell went to Hodge in a high-leverage spot for the first time since May 21. Hodge struck out both Braves hitters he faced. If Hodge has recaptured what made him so successful last year — pounding the zone with strikes, throwing more competitive pitches out of hand and limiting walks — the Cubs bullpen will be in much better shape heading into the postseason.
“The way the game sequenced I thought we found a really good spot to introduce Porter into a bigger inning, and he delivered so absolutely take note of it,” Counsell said. “He had a rough outing in Colorado (on Aug. 31) but we’re optimistic that he had turned some things around and could be important, and (Wednesday) was another step.”