Cubs name Matthew Boyd Game 1 starter vs. Padres with Kevin Gausman still in limbo

With Kevin Gausman's status for the NL Wild Card series against the San Diego Padres in question, Craig Counsell has revealed that Matthew Boyd will get the start on Tuesday night. The Cubs will likely reveal their full roster for the Wild Card round on Tuesday morning, leaving the door open for Gausman to still be a part of the team's rotation plans for the series.

Once the full roster is revealed, it would seem there will be a better sense of the Cubs' plans for the rest of the series. If Gausman is on the roster, he would be a candidate to start on Wednesday. If not, Clay Holmes or David Peterson could get the start in Game 2, with Shota Imanaga getting the nod in a potential Game 3.

As discussed on the latest episode of the Cubbies Crib podcast, if Gausman wasn't going to get the start on Tuesday, Boyd was the next logical option.

Matthew Boyd will start Game 1 for Cubs as Kevin Gausman uncertainty clouds Wild Card plans

At best, it has been an up-and-down season for Boyd. There's been stretches where he's looked like the All-Star he was in 2025, and there's also been stretches where one bad inning has derailed his momentum. As a whole, a biceps strain and meniscus tear limited Boyd to 22 starts this season, he posted a 3.91 ERA.

The larger concern is that Boyd has struggled to miss bats this season. He's striking out just over 18% of the hitters he's faced this season, and considering the Padres have been right there with the Cubs in terms of being the hottest offense in baseball since the All-Star break, struggling to miss bats could be a recipe for disaster.

If Boyd has a similar start to the one he had last October against the Padres in the Wild Card round, that should be considered a success. He got the Cubs into the fourth inning, giving up one run on four hits. He threw 58 pitches, and with the Cubs likely having a number of bulk options in their bullpen, that feels like the rough estimate for what to expect of him on Tuesday night.

Nothing about the Cubs build-up to this series with the Padres has been ideal, and Boyd starting Game 1 likely is a part of that conversation. The Cubs likely were hoping that Gausman or Holmes would get the nod here, but that just hasn't been how circumstances have lined up for them this year.

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