Veteran southpaw Matthew Boyd will toe the rubber for the Cubs' 2026 opener. He brings a dominant home record and career-best performance to kick off the season.
The Chicago Cubs have officially announced their starting pitcher for Opening Day.
After weeks of predicting which Cubs pitcher could start the first game, the Cubs made it official on Thursday afternoon. Left-hander Matthew Boyd will officially start for the North Siders on Opening Day.
Boyd will take the mound at Wrigley Field against the Washington Nationals to kick off Chicago's season on March 26. The southpaw will start opposite Nationals pitcher Cade Cavalli in this game, who was named Washington’s Opening Day starter earlier this week.
While Cade Horton was surely in contention to start on Opening Day, manager Craig Counsell will go to his established veteran to begin the 2026 season. Starting on Opening Day is a high honor for so many pitchers around the league.
This will be Boyd’s third career Opening Day start. His first two came with the Detroit Tigers in both 2020 and 2021. In his 2021 Opening Day start, he threw 5 ⅔ shutout innings with three hits, four walks, and two strikeouts against the Cleveland Guardians.
The 35-year-old is definitely deserving of this Opening Day nod. He is the veteran of the Cubs' pitching group and is coming off a solid all-around campaign in 2025. Boyd finished with a 3.21 ERA and 154 strikeouts against 179 ⅔ innings pitched last year.
It has no doubt been a whirlwind past year for the veteran southpaw. He posted the best pitching numbers of his career in 2025, made his first All-Star appearance, started three games in the postseason, and accepted an invite to play in the World Baseball Classic for Team USA.
Boyd pitched in one game for Team USA in the pool play round of the World Baseball Classic. Although he struggled in that relief appearance by allowing three runs on five hits across 2 ⅓ innings, the Cubs pitcher took a lot of pride in representing his country.
That will be Boyd’s only appearance in this year’s World Baseball Classic, as reports state that the left-hander has returned to Cubs camp to get ready for the season. He has to build up his pitch count before his Opening Day start.
Boyd will take the mound in front of the Wrigley crowd on March 26, a place where he thrived all throughout the 2025 season. The 35-year-old had a 12-1 record with a 2.51 ERA and 0.903 WHIP in his 15 regular season starts at home last year.
The rest of the opening series rotation still hasn’t been decided.