Adam Wainwright will find out Monday if he can return this season

Here’s a scary thought for National League postseason hopefuls – the St. Louis Cardinals, with Adam Wainwright back in the starting rotation.

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The Cardinals ace has been sidelined since April 25 with a torn Achilles, but he is healing quickly and will find out on Monday if he can return this season.

“Wainwright will meet with doctors to determine the strength of his leg and its readiness for baseball activity. He said after that appointment he and the team will have a better sense of what’s realistic.”

The biggest obstacle remaining for Wainwright is fielding. He has been throwing bullpen sessions and increasing his pitch count without any issues, but hasn’t attempted any fielding drills. It’s an important hurdle for the two-time Gold Glove winner. If he can’t cover first base or field a bunt comfortably, the Cardinals won’t risk putting him back in the lineup.

It’s only been five months since Wainwright was sidelined, while the normal recovery time for an Achilles injury is 10-12 months. It seems most likely he will be shutdown for the year.

But Wainwright is eager to return in 2015.

“No doctors are telling me it’s impossible,” Wainwright said Monday. “That’s the story that everyone keeps writing that I haven’t heard yet, and I would think I would know. If a doctor had told me that, then I would have shut this down a whole long time ago and told you all, ‘Hey, I’ll see you next year. But no one’s telling me that.”

[Elsewhere: Bryce Harper joins elite company with his 40th homer.]

And why wouldn’t he want to return this season? The Cardinals are cruising along with the best record in baseball and a four-game lead atop the NL Central. The Cardinals have been just fine without him, entering play Thursday with an MLB-best team ERA of 2.86.

Adding a three-time All Star and former World Series champion would make them that much more formidable, though reports suggest he is more likely to work out of the bullpen if he returns.

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