In the midst of the madness at Wrigley Field, the Chicago Cubs were dealt another blow this week as left-handed starting pitcher Matthew Boyd underwent surgery on his left meniscus. The veteran reportedly felt something was wrong while playing with his kids on Wednesday, and later it was determined that he needed surgery to resolve the issue.
There was a possibility that a full repair of the meniscus would have knocked Boyd out for the rest of the 2026 season, and although he is still expected to miss more than a month of action, the Cubs did get relatively great news following the procedure.
A partial repair was the best possible outcome for Boyd, and manager Craig Counsell was confident enough to set a timetable when speaking to reporters prior to Thursday’s series finale against the Cincinnati Reds.
Counsell characterized Boyd’s surgery as minor and said the team is hopeful the pitcher will miss only about six weeks. That’s a big break for the Cubs, who already have to get through the season without Cade Horton.
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So, if Boyd can recover smoothly without setbacks, he could return as early as late June; if the Cubs want to be conservative with his rehab, we could look at an early July return. Again, considering this could have easily been a season-ending surgery, the Cubs will certainly take this outcome.
The team’s depth has stepped up in 2026 with Colin Rea becoming an incredibly steady performer in the rotation. He turned in another solid start on Wednesday, going 5.1 innings and allowing two runs, only one of which was earned.
Rea had a rough game against the Los Angeles Dodgers a couple of weeks back, but overall, the veteran righty has been excellent filling in. Rea gave up six runs in 3.1 innings against the Dodgers, but in his four other starts, Rea has posted a 2.01 ERA in 22.1 innings.
The depth will continue to be tested without Boyd, and it’s an eerily similar situation to last year. The Cubs lost Justin Steele in April, but the rotation was still doing fine until Shōta Imanaga was sidelined for six weeks. During that time, the Cubs had a bottom-three rotation in MLB.
This time around, the Cubs do have a healthy Javier Assad, and there’s also the chance that Ben Brown, with his newly-found sinker, can potentially step up as a starter if the team goes that direction.
