Matthew Boyd Deserves as Much Credit as Anyone For Cubs' Strong Start

The Chicago Cubs have reached the halfway mark of the season boasting a record of 48-33. That's good for a three-game cushion over the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central. It's hard to imagine where the Cubs would be at this point if not for an offense that has dominated for much of the season. When it comes to the rotation, though, it's hard to imagine where things would be if not for the efforts of veteran Matthew Boyd.

Boyd has been a machine of sorts for Craig Counsell's club, delivering one quality start after another. In his most recent outing on Wednesday against St. Louis, Boyd shoved to the tune of six innings, allowing just three hits and hanging up a goose egg in the scoring column for the Cardinals.  Before that 8-0 win for the Cubs, Chicago had allowed seven or more runs in six consecutive games. Boyd put that streak to rest in emphatic fashion.

In a year where the rotation has been somewhat of a roller coaster ride, Boyd has been the glue guy. Shota Imanaga returned to the bump on Thursday, tossing an effortless five shutout innings. It was Imanaga's first start since May 4 when he suffered a hamstring injury against Milwaukee and ended up on the shelf. It's true that Imanaga is Chicago's best starting pitcher, but he's already missed a chunk of the season.

Meanwhile, Ben Brown's up-and-down efforts while trying to flourish with a two-pitch mix landed him back in Iowa earlier in the week. Colin Rea has essentially become an arm the Cubs use every fifth day to chew up as many innings as possible before the plug needs to get pulled. Jameson Taillon has been fine at times, but the long ball has plagued him all season long. Cade Horton has shown signs of brilliance but is still a rookie just entering the deep waters of the majors. 

Then there's Boyd, who, before the All-Star break has even arrived, has already logged his most starts (16) and innings pitched (91 2/3) in a season since 2019. Injuries have been the dark cloud hanging over the head of Boyd in recent seasons, and the Cubs can count their lucky stars that he's been healthy throughout the 2025 campaign.

Chicago had sputtered with back-to-back losses in St. Louis before Boyd knocked the Cardinals down a rung or two on Wednesday. Counsell may have best summarized the start from the lefty hurler afterwards.

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"We obviously scored early and he (Boyd) just kept putting up zero's," Counsell said of Boyd. "It felt like kind of the game was over by the fifth inning just with how he was pitching. Just never kind of gave them any hope to score. There were no rallies going on, nothing. It was a really, really well pitched game and something we needed."

Counsell went on to note that, outside of a start in Cincinnati earlier this season where Boyd struggled with his command, he's been a "super consistent, high level performer" in the words of the manager. Boyd has found success in a lot of ways this year in Chicago, but it's hard to ignore a few specific items.

Dating back to 2021, Boyd had used his fastball just 37% of the time in the last four years combined before this season. Like the Cubs have done with many of their starters, that numbers has risen drastically. Boyd has fired the fastball 46% of the time this year while also seeing a slight uptick in his velocity with an average of 93.1 miles per hour. For a nice reference point, and while also recognizing Boyd is 34 years old, that's the highest velocity average in his career.

Secondly, Boyd is filling up the zone. According to Boyd's Statcast page, the lefty has a zone percentage of 53.1% this year. That's the highest in his career. His 69.3% rate on first-pitch strikes is his highest mark in that category since 2021 and the second-highest total in his career.

Point blank, Boyd is trusting his stuff, pitching with an immense amount of confidence and constantly peppering the zone. It should come as no surprise that with Boyd filling up the zone, doing so early and getting effective results, his walk percentage is in a very comfortable spot. Boyd is in the 84th percentile in walk percentage this year, but to better get a grasp on how that compares to his career, consider that his 5.7% in the walk department is by far the lowest in his career. 

It's amazing what results you can get when you trust your stuff and don't dance around the outside of the strike zone. Boyd has produced to such a level that it's entirely possible the Cubs have trade deadline plans for a rotation where he is the No. 3 in a playoff series. In fact, it'd be shocking if that wasn't the case at this point. Imanaga is the ace. After that, with all the trade rumors swirling, the Cubs could seek out a deal that gives them a solid No. 2 in the rotation. Then, it's Boyd. 

The offense gets a lot of the attention for the Cubs and rightfully so. But when canvassing the landscape of why this team is 48-33 up to this point, don't forget about Matthew Boyd keeping the rotation glued together.