{"id":519835,"date":"2026-03-12T21:08:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T21:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/519835\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T21:08:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T21:08:07","slug":"chicago-cubs-name-veteran-lefty-opening-day-starter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/519835\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Cubs name veteran lefty opening-day starter"},"content":{"rendered":"

MESA, Ariz. \u2014 Left-hander Matthew Boyd will get his first opening-day start for the Chicago Cubs.<\/p>\n

Manager Craig Counsell announced Thursday that Boyd will take the mound March 26 against the Washington Nationals at Wrigley Field.<\/p>\n

It will be the 35-year-old Boyd\u2019s third career opening-day start after receiving the honor with the Detroit Tigers in 2020 and 2021. The environment will be much different this time, however. He pitched in an empty stadium for the COVID-delayed 2020 opener and in front of a crowd reduced to 20% capacity at Comerica Park for the start of the \u201921 season.<\/p>\n

\u201cMan, it\u2019s an honor,\u201d Boyd said. \u201cI\u2019m so grateful to be the guy who gets the ball on that day. Obviously it\u2019s a game just like the rest of the other 162, but I\u2019m super grateful.<\/p>\n

\u201cOpening day, it is really something that is truly special. I understand how much it means to Chicago fans and how much it means to my own family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boyd had known for about a week he would start the opener. The Cubs wanted to make sure the World Baseball Classic<\/a> didn\u2019t affect his preparation for the beginning of the season, and once it became clear there likely wouldn\u2019t be sufficient innings available after pool play, the decision was made to return to camp so Boyd can continue building up for the season.<\/p>\n

Boyd threw a bullpen session Thursday and is in line to start Saturday\u2019s Cactus League game against the Colorado Rockies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in good shape with that,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cHe\u2019ll have a very normal spring and be able to pitch on normal days. \u2026 It lines up really well.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou earn these things, and Matthew has earned this with how he\u2019s pitched last year and since coming back from an injury. He had a great season last year, was a very important player for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boyd is coming off the first All-Star performance<\/a> in his 11-year career. He posted a 3.21 ERA in 31 starts, and his 179 2\/3 innings were his most since 2019, when he delivered a career-high 185 1\/3 for the Tigers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m thankful that I don\u2019t write the script because I probably wouldn\u2019t write it this way,\u201d Boyd said, \u201cbut I wouldn\u2019t change a thing, the ups and downs of it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MESA, Ariz. \u2014 Left-hander Matthew Boyd will get his first opening-day start for the Chicago Cubs. Manager Craig…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":519836,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[479,99195,363,17518,99,63077,72364],"class_list":["post-519835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-matthew-boyd","tag-mlb","tag-opening-day","tag-sports","tag-spring-training","tag-world-baseball-classic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=519835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/519836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=519835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=519835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=519835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}