CHICAGO — As the playoffs approached, the Cubs’ pitching corps was already in a tenuous situation. Anyone who had watched Matthew Boyd and Shota Imanaga over the final month of the season saw that they were hardly locks to provide shutdown innings come October.

Cade Horton’s injury, however, is what led to the team’s pitching becoming so fragile. A group that carried the club during the offense’s slump is now a house of cards. One mistake, one bad outing and it all falls apart.

“If you take, arguably, piece one or piece two out and replace it with piece 13, that’s a big difference,” manager Craig Counsell said. “That doesn’t guarantee Cade’s performance. But it’s a number of innings you feel like you’re missing. That’s just injuries, period. It’s how they work.”

With his options limited, Counsell likely felt his hand was forced to start Boyd on short rest to start the National League Division Series. Imanaga’s home-run problems have been obvious for a while now, but to get to where they need to be, the Cubs needed him to overcome those issues. He did not, and the Cubs enter Wednesday down 2-0 in the best-of-five series.

Rather than go to Colin Rea or Javier Assad, the latter of whom didn’t make the NLDS roster, Counsell trusted that two pitchers who had delivered for him for much of the season would step up when needed most. But after two effective outings in the Wild Card Series, neither Boyd nor Imanaga have worked out for the team this series. It’s a major reason why they find themselves in such a hole against the Brewers.

The offense hasn’t held up its end of the bargain, but playoff games, good ones at least, are often low scoring. Grind out a few runs, limit the opponent and you can find yourself advancing. That’s how it worked in the first round. That recipe has failed this time around.

“Look, these games should be low scoring,” Counsell said. “We’re giving up too many runs.”

During Tuesday’s workout at Wrigley Field, Horton threw a bullpen. Before doing so, he spoke to members of the media.

“At this moment, I’m pain-free,” Horton said. “Really not trying to push it. But for right now, I’m feeling good.”

Horton has been playing catch and throwing from his knees. He still hadn’t let loose, noting that his bullpen session may not be something where he’s throwing in the upper 90s, but still would be a real test. But this is also where the Cubs were during the regular season when they tried to progress with Horton, only for him to feel pain and shut things down when he really pushed it.

Still, Horton has his eyes set on the Cubs pulling off an unlikely comeback and being ready for the NLCS.

“Absolutely, I think that’s the plan,” Horton said. “That’s kind of why we’re getting on the mound today and progressing as normal.”

First, the Cubs will need to win on Wednesday. To do that, they’ll need their pitching to get back on track. Trusted veteran Jameson Taillon may be the team’s best bet to do that.

“I would love nothing more than to give (Horton) a chance to pitch again,” Taillon said. “Just all starts with tomorrow.”

Counsell believes it’s Taillon’s ability to stick to his process that allows him to come up big in these potentially stressful moments.

“It never wavers, and I think that’s what — from your older players and your experienced players, that consistency of never wavering no matter what’s going on around you is something that’s always admired,” Counsell said. “It’s the calm in the storm that I think Jamo has always been really good at providing.”

Taillon ended the season on a roll. In his final six starts, the veteran righty posted a 1.57 ERA and seemed to be feeling locked in with his full arsenal. That also seemed to be the case in the Wild Card Series clincher against the San Diego Padres when he tossed four shutout frames before handing it over to the bullpen.

But if he does the job, what’s next? What can Counsell do in a potential Game 4 or 5 that would instill trust? That’s a question that doesn’t seem to have a good answer. Not right now. The Cubs’ best bet may just be to hope they can get the type of performances from their former top pitchers that they so desperately need.

“That’s what a lot of the playoffs are about,” Counsell said. “Move to the next moment. You get stuck on that thing behind you, the next moment ain’t gona work out either. That’s what we’re doing right now and that’s what we’re going to continue to do to prepare those guys for the next time they take the mound.”

They’ll need a lot to go right for any of this to matter. Otherwise, it’s more of the same this offseason with plenty of questions about what needs to be done to catch the Brewers.

“We put ourselves in a hole this series,” Counsell said. “No question about it. We get to decide how the story ends.”