Ian Happ scratched from series finale Sunday

Left fielder Ian Happ was scratched from the Cubs’ lineup Sunday with a sore left shoulder after he ran into the outfield wall while trying to catch Tommy Pham’s triple in the ninth inning of the 5-4 loss to the Cardinals on Saturday.

Manager Craig Counsell said Happ was originally in the lineup before being scratched almost an hour before first pitch.

“I mean, he hit that wall pretty darn hard,” Counsell said before the game. “So his left side is sore.”

Happ has been one of the Cubs’ best hitters. He’s tied with the Diamondbacks’ Ketel Marte for the second-most RBI in the majors since May 26. His 15 homers in that span are tied for 10th in the majors and fourth in the National League.

Entering Sunday, Happ led the team in RBI (62), was second in homers (17) and had the highest hard-contact rate (37.7%) despite a .228 batting average.

The Cubs can survive an extended absence by switching Mike Tauchman to left field, but he doesn’t have Happ’s power.

‘Mistakes are learning opportunities’

The Cubs are technically still in playoff contention. After taking three of four from the Cards, they’re six games back of a wild-card spot. But the priorities have shifted after a trade deadline that saw president Jed Hoyer trade reliever Mark Leiter Jr. to the Yankees and third baseman Christopher Morel to the Rays and acquire third baseman Isaac Paredes and reliever Nate Pearson, showing that the front office is more concerned with 2025 than the remaining two months of the season.

Center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong’s awful misplay Saturday — he called off second baseman Nico Hoerner to try a sliding catch — played a huge part in the Cubs blowing a 4-2 lead in the eighth inning.

Counsell acknowledged the mistake “unfortunately contributed to a big play in the game that ultimately cost us two runs.” But because the Cubs dug themselves a hole with their lackluster play from May until the trade deadline, the playoffs are already a long shot — FanGraphs gives them a 2.7% chance of clinching a wild-card spot — so development can take precedence.

The Cubs still hold Crow-Armstrong in high regard. They understand that the blunder can’t happen again, and that as a rookie, he has to experience those low points to grow. When the Cubs called up Crow-Armstrong last season, they were in the thick of a playoff race. They couldn’t afford to endure his growing pains last season, but there are more opportunities for him this year.

For the Cubs to succeed in 2025, they’ll need Crow-Armstrong to apply lessons learned from this season.

“I think mistakes are learning opportunities,” Counsell said. “You have to treat the mistakes as an opportunity to coach and as an opportunity to learn.”

This and that

• Reliever Hayden Wesneski (strained right forearm) played catch Friday and Saturday.
• Reliever Keegan Thompson (rib fracture) threw a scoreless, eight-pitch inning Saturday for Triple-A Iowa.
• Catcher Tomas Nido traveled to Arizona on Sunday to continue his rehab.