The Brewers cruised against the Cubs, 9-3, in Game 1 of the NLDS Saturday (box score). Cubs leadoff man Michael Busch started the series with a home run, but it was 9-1 Brewers before the end of the second inning and the rest of the game became a mere formality. 

The Cubs went with left-handed All-Star Matthew Boyd on the mound for this one. In a vacuum, it might sound like the reasonable move. In context, though, it was a head-scratcher even before the implosion. 

First off, Boyd was starting on short rest. He worked Game 1 of the Wild Card Series against the Padres on Tuesday. He had previously started three games on short rest in his career and those came one time each in 2015, 2016 and 2017. 

Further, Boyd ran out of gas in the second half. Remember, he was returning from major surgery last season and made only 11 appearances between the 2024 regular season and playoffs, amounting to 51 â…“ innings. Boyd threw 179 â…” innings this season and posted a 5.51 ERA in his last eight regular-season starts. Even with a few good starts mixed in, he just wasn’t the same guy who was the unquestioned ace of the Cubs’ staff with a 2.20 ERA through July 22. 

Maybe the Cubs liked that Boyd only threw 58 pitches in Game 1? Plus, rookie frontline starter Cade Horton is hurt while Shota Imanaga and Jameson Taillon were unavailable due to their own Wild Card Series starts. It should also be noted that four of the six runs Boyd allowed were unearned due to a uncharacteristic error from Nico Hoerner, one of the best defenders in baseball.

Still, Boyd had already allowed three straight doubles to start the game and then a one-out walk before the Hoerner error. After the error, he coughed up another single.

To summarize: Horton’s hurt, Taillon and Imanaga were unavailable and Hoerner made a huge error. There were plenty of things working against the Cubs in Game 1, but Boyd was very much one of them.

Why’d he start? 

“I think we just didn’t feel like the number of pitches that he threw on Tuesday [was too many],” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said after Game 1. “What he’s done all season, [he’s] been our best starting pitcher.”

The other options were Colin Rea, who is starting Game 2, and Javier Assad, who was left off the NLDS roster. Going with either in Game 1 would have meant extra rest for Boyd before Game 2, as there’s a scheduled day off on Sunday. Rea (11-7, 3.95 ERA) and Assad (4-1, 3.65) are the Cubs’ fifth and sixth starters, but Boyd sure got peppered in Game 1 like he shouldn’t have been out there.

The silver lining for the Cubs is that Aaron Civale and Ben Brown carried enough of a load in relief that the Cubs didn’t use their five best relievers at all and there are days off flanking Monday’s Game 2. The bad news is they are trailing the best-of-five series 1-0 and didn’t even make the Brewers’ pitchers sweat in this one.