I compared him to Drew Smyly after he was signed and I’ll happily say how wrong I was about Matthew Boyd. All around and a superb signing by Jed Hoyer and the Chicago Cubs, who have officially named Boyd as the team’s Game 1 starter against the San Diego Padres on Tuesday.
Boyd ended the year by earning his 14th win of the season as the lefty tossed 5.1 innings against the New York Mets in a 10-3 victory. Boyd gave up two runs on two hits, while striking out three and walking one. It was an encouraging effort by the veteran, who appeared to be tiring in September. In his last two outings before last week’s starts, Boyd allowed eight runs in eight combined innings against the Tampa Bay Rays and Pittsburgh Pirates, respectively.
There was a giant question mark with Boyd coming into the season as the left-handed starter had not pitched more than 100 innings in a season since 2019. He returned in August last year with the Cleveland Guardians, pitched well down the stretch and then signed a two-year, $29 million contract with the Cubs. The 34-year-old was selected to his first All-Star team this year and finished the season with a 3.21 ERA in 31 starts, completing 179.2 innings, the second highest total in his career.
A great signing by the Cubs and an incredible year for Boyd.
Of course, Cade Horton’s rib fracture factored into the decision to bump Boyd into the Game 1 starter as Horton was placed on the 15-day injured list this past weekend.
Still, Boyd has been good to great for most of the year and pitched well in two games against the Padres. He threw six shutout innings on April 5, at Wrigley Field, and then took the loss after giving up a pair of runs in San Diego in 5.1 innings on April 16.
As a team, the Padres have been below average this season against left-handed pitching, posting a 96 wRC+ against lefties. Their team slash line vs. southpaws ranks 17th in baseball at .244/.316/.375.
Boyd hasn’t faced the Padres all that much throughout his career as Xander Bogaerts’ 16 at-bats are the most on San Diego against Chicago’s starter. Manny Machado has had the most success against Boyd, going 5-for-13, with a pair of doubles.
Meanwhile, Nick Pivetta will start Game 1 for the Padres. The right-hander recorded a 2.87 ERA in 181.2 innings this season. He pitched twice against the Cubs this year, first surrendering three runs in three innings in Wrigley Feld and then limiting the Cubs to one run over six innings in San Diego.
Game 1 between the Padres and Cubs is scheduled to begin at 2:08 pm at Wrigley Field.
