Cincinnati Reds star shortstop Elly De La Cruz exited Sunday's primetime matchup against the Chicago Cubs with an apparent injury to his left quad muscle. The team announced it officially on social media.

Matt McLain moved to shortstop, and Ivan Johnson replaced him in the lineup and is at second base. He was 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored before exiting.

The Same Injury Effected Him Last Season

Last season, De La Cruz played through nearly the entirety of the second half of the season with the same injury on the same leg, and his numbers dipped mightily. After hitting 18 home runs in the first half of the season in 2025, he hit just four after the All-Star break. His numbers have dipped in a similar fashion this season, but not nearly as drastically. His batting average has dropped 13 points, and he has hit six home runs post-All-Star break this season.

The Reds need De La Cruz to be healthy throughout his career for them to have any real hopes of building a contender while he is under team control. This is the second consecutive season that he has dealt with the same injury. This season was also the first time in his career that he had spent any amount of time on the injured list. He missed nearly the entire month of June after going on the injured list with a hamstring injury.  

A Tough Blow

The timing of this injury is also a worst-case scenario and honestly puts a bow on the Reds’ terrible season in 2026. After a tremendous start, winning 20 games at the end of April, fans and media outlets had the Reds as a possible threat to win the division after coming off a 2025 season that saw them make the playoffs for the first time since 2020 and in year one of Terry Francona's regime. 

Unfortunately, once the calendar flipped to May, everything fell apart. The bullpen went on one of the worst stretches in recent memory, and the offense can only seem to drive in runs when hitting the ball over the fence. They did show some promise at the end of July, post-All-Star break, but the team is trending back in the direction of what we saw in May and June. 

September is going to be one of the toughest stretches of baseball the Reds have faced in a long time. They’ll play the Brewers and Dodgers twice each, along with series against the Cubs, Padres, Braves and Blue Jays. Every one of those teams is either currently in a playoff spot or right in the middle of the postseason race.