PlainDealer: Kerry Wood returns to Chicago where injuries forced fans to wonder what might have been

If Kerry Wood could rewrite the script, of course he would.

He would have made 30-plus starts, pitched 200-plus innings and won 20 games year after year in helping the Cubs win multiple world championships.

But Wood cannot rewrite the script. He must accept what transpired between 1998 and 2008 as is. Injuries, cold and unforgiving, dotted his tenure on the North Side of Chicago. They foiled what might have been a spectacular career but did not stop it from providing ample highlight-reel material.

Wood still might come back to the Cubs to write another chapter, but for now, the bottom line reads like this: 276 games, 77 wins, 61 losses, 34 saves, 3.65 ERA, 1,219 1/3 innings, 947 hits, 577 walks, 1,407 strikeouts, no world titles.

The former phenom returns to Wrigley Field this weekend as closer for the Indians, who play the Cubs in a three-game series.