How Matthew Boyd, Cubs confidence in each other has helped both thrive
The Chicago Cubs sealed their place in the 2025 MLB postseason after two straight years of 83 wins and falling just short of the playoff tournament. How did the Cubs put it all together and get over the hump? Here are six key areas that led to the return of October baseball on the North Side.
CHICAGO — Matthew Boyd stood on top of the Wrigley Field mound in the sixth inning on Wednesday night and watched as Craig Counsell meandered towards him from the third base dugout, ready to pull him from his 31st and final start of the year.
Being the competitor he is, Boyd wanted to stay in the game longer, but his manager wouldn’t have it.
Counsell did stay on the mound for a while, chatting with the veteran for an extended period before finally taking the ball to hand it over to Daniel Palencia. It was bow on a wonderful regular season campaign, one that both sides probably couldn’t have foreseen coming.
“Just congratulating him on a great regular season,” Counsell said. “Thirty-one starts, which it’s been a while for him. He should be proud of that. He gave us a huge lift over the course of the regular season.
“And he was a steadying force, and that means that he made every start. So, it was a great regular season for Matt.”
The Cubs manager did have one parting message for Boyd, though.
“He told me we have more starts in store,” the left-hander said.
There wouldn’t be more games beyond Sunday for the Cubs if not for Boyd.
The veteran signed a two-year, $29 million pact in the offseason, a bit of an eye-popping number for a 34-year-old who hadn’t made more than 15 starts since 2019 and who made just eight regular-season starts last year for the Cleveland Guardians, tossing 39.2 innings in his return from Tommy John surgery.
The small sample size with Cleveland was good – a 2.72 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP for a team that reached the AL Championship Series. But it was still a guy who had a lifetime 4.85 ERA and appeared to have plenty more question marks than certainties for a team that needed a boost in their rotation, as they were desperate to reach the playoffs.
Yet Boyd overdelivered.
He was an All-Star for the first time in his career and led the team in starts (31) and innings (179.2), while posting a 3.21 ERA. Most importantly, though, he carried the rotation when Justin Steele went down with a season-ending elbow surgery in April and Shota Imanaga missed nearly eight weeks with a hamstring injury. Boyd was the stabilizing force, taking the ball and giving the Cubs a chance to win during their best stretch of the season.
“He’s just [shown] up, making his presence known in the National League this year. It’s just been so cool to watch him pitch,” Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong said. “He’s been a horse for us.”
Despite some late-season struggles – he had a 5.77 ERA in his last eight starts before Wednesday’s outing – there’s no denying that the Cubs aren’t in the position they’re in without Boyd.
As he walked off the mound on Wednesday, the crowd of 35,060 gave him a loud ovation, a token of appreciation for a veteran who arrived in Chicago as a bit of a question mark and heads into the postseason as one of the solutions to their 2025 campaign.
It all stemmed from mutual trust.
“I just have a ton of gratitude,” Boyd said. “I mean to get to be a Chicago Cub, that they gave me a chance to get to do this this year, that they believed in me after only 39 innings last year. I feel like I had my best year in the big leagues.
“It’s not done, but I’m just overwhelmed with gratitude. Season’s not done – we still have work to do.”
