Anthony Rizzo believes he'll be ready for the Chicago Cubs opener Friday after testing his ailing back: 'It's go time'

Opening day means a lot to Chicago Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo, who believes his tight lower back has loosened to the point he could start Friday’s season opener against the Milwaukee Brewers.

“Definitely (missing) a couple games early is a lot smarter than potentially putting yourself at risk to miss a big chunk,” Rizzo said Sunday during a conference call after passing a series of tests. “A big chunk is 10 games, two weeks this season.

“(But) opening day means a lot to me, to be the opening-day starter for the Chicago Cubs. And that’s the goal, and I feel like how I felt (Sunday), how I was moving, this is definitely going in the right direction to become a reality.”

Rizzo, 30, took several rounds of batting practice, fielded grounders and stretched to catch throws at first base before performing running drills around the bases.

He will go through a “recovery” day Monday with the hope of playing Wednesday night against the Minnesota Twins in the exhibition finale.

“I definitely would love to play, to get live at-bats off a different team, but (I’m) just kind of day to day,” said Rizzo, who has a history of back tightness. “I’m optimistic I will be in there. Thursday we’re off and Friday hopefully ring the bell. That’s definitely a short-term goal.”

Major-league teams must finalize their 30-man rosters by Thursday morning. Rizzo has been the Cubs’ opening-day first baseman for seven consecutive seasons and is trying to avoid a stint on the 10-day injured list for the first time since April 2018.

“He’s out there for 150-plus games,” teammate Kyle Schwarber said. “He’s a guy who you know he’s going to wear a 100 mph (pitch) off the arm, and you think he’s going be out for the next week. But he’s in there the next day. It’s things he does out there on the field that rubs off on a lot of people in the clubhouse.”

Victor Caratini started Sunday night’s exhibition game against the White Sox at first base, and Jason Kipnis handled designated hitter duties and homered in his first at-bat.

Rizzo said he would accept the DH duties if presented to him.

“I’ll accept whatever,” he said. “I think the DH is very favorable for our team.”

Rizzo said he intensified his workout Sunday to simulate a game-like situation.

“I really pushed it,” he said. “It felt great. I was able to hit with no pain at all, which is good. I feel like (Sunday) was a really big day.”

Rizzo admitted his treatment was a little too aggressive after he initially felt stiffness earlier this month, so he took a couple of extra days off before resuming workouts.

“It’s not like walking around in dire pain,” he said. “But now that the season’s approaching, it’s go time.”

Rizzo said he did less work with more intensity with the season approaching quickly and played through game situations while taking batting practice and performing fielding drills.

Rizzo has played in at least 140 games in each of the last seven seasons, but that number has steadily declined since playing a career-high 160 in 2015.

He showed his determination last September after suffering a moderate sprain of his right ankle that was supposed to sideline him for the final two weeks of the season.

Thanks to constant treatment and an ability to manage the pain, Rizzo returned four days later and homered in his second at-bat against the Cardinals.

With a 60-game schedule, Rizzo is trying to avoid a stint on the injured list as each game equates to about 2.7 games in a 162-game schedule.

And the Cubs open their schedule with 17 games without a scheduled day off.

“We’ve done that multiple times,” Rizzo said. “Once the actual pain is subdued, it’s about twisting and turning and doing everything I do without it coming back. We’ve done that the last two days, and now we really have to hopefully look back.”

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