Cubs Banged-Up Rotation Gets Needed Boost from Veteran Starter

The Chicago Cubs are having a real Murphy's Law sort of season. Pretty much anything that can happen has — for better or for worse.

Young outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong has taken the leap to stardom. Big ticket off-season acquisition Kyle Tucker looks like an MVP candidate. Vetran journeyman catcher Carson Kelly has a .927 OPS.

On the flip side, co-ace Justin Steele is out for the season recovering from elbow surgery, and his top-of-the-rotation partner in Shota Imanaga has been sidelined for about a month.

On balance, the 2025 season has been good to the Cubs, who as of Wednesday evening own a 38-22 record and lead the National League Central division.

Why Matthew Boyd Has Been an Unsung Hero for the Cubs

That's thanks in large part to the contributions of veteran pitcher Matthew Boyd, who has taken the ball and pitched brilliantly with regularity to keep the rotation afloat despite the injuries to Imanaga and Steele.

A 34-year-old southpaw, Boyd entered his Wednesday night start against the Washington Nationals with a 3.08 ERA. All he did Wednesday was take a perfect game into the sixth inning. He lost the perfect game and allowed two runs in the eighth inning of a 2-0 loss.

But, it continued a trend. Boyd has not allowed more than four earned runs in any start this year, and he has surrendered more than three just once.

The Cubs took a flyer on the Washington native in the offseason, and they've been rewarded.

Boyd has not thrown more than 100 innings in a season since 2019, and of the eight MLB seasons in which he's spent meaningful time as a starter, he's had an ERA below 4.39 just once.

But in limited action with the Cleveland Guardians last year, he 2.72 ERA and struck out more than a batter per inning across eight starts.

Cleveland is known for unlocking improvement in struggling pitchers, so the Cubs brought him on, and even outside of the Guardians organization, Boyd still has the stuff.

The veteran is neither getting lucky nor relying on one strong trait that may falter to drive his success. According to Baseball Savant, he's solidly above average but not elite in average exit velocity allowed, strikeout rate, walk rate and chas rate.

The good news for Cubs fans is that Boyd will not have to be an ace or even a number two all year.

Imanaga is due back sooner than later, and it seems inevitable that president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer adds a quality arm to his rotation at this year's trade deadline.

But as Chicago looks to cash in on a brilliant start and the most talented roster it's had since 2016, Boyd looks every bit like the sort of depth starter who can deliver a heroic postseason start if given the opportunity.