Cubs' young star misses Opening Day bid, but he's ready to lead the rotation in 2026

The Chicago Cubs' unsurprisingly announced that Matthew Boyd — following a resurgent, All-Star campaign in 2025 — would serve as the team's Opening Day starter in 2026. It's a well-deserved honor for one of the team's most underrated players, but with all due respect to the 35-year-old southpaw, the North Siders' rotation will be depending on other arms moving forward.

Edward Cabrera, the team's biggest trade acquisition of a starting pitcher since Jake Arrieta, certainly qualifies. As does Justin Steele, who the team sorely missed down the stretch last year.

But it's homegrown product Cade Horton who will make or break the pitching staff in the years ahead.

Cade Horton looking past spring training struggles as he eyes an encore

Horton certainly hasn't had the easiest time in spring training thus far. Through two starts (5 2/3 innings), the 24-year-old right-hander is sitting on a 9.53 ERA, 10.69 FIP, and 15.4% strikeout rate. It's not the start anyone wanted, but it's also not distracting Horton from the ultimate end goal.

“I feel like last year I would’ve gotten really worked up about this,” Horton said to Sahadev Sharma following his rough spring training outing against the Texas Rangers. “But this year I’m just really focused on the process. It really is all about getting ready for Opening Day."

There's certainly an argument to be made that he deserved the nod in Game 1 of 162. He was utterly brilliant last year, tossing 118 innings in Chicago en route to a 2.67 ERA and 2.2 fWAR. His second half was truly special, as opposing hitters managed a paltry .154/.213.234 batting line off him. That resulted in a ridiculous 1.03 ERA that rivaled even Arrieta's legendary 2015 run.

The expectations for Horton are vast, even if projection systems like Steamer and ZiPS foresee a drop-off in results. Depending on where Cabrera slots in, he'll be the Cubs' de facto No. 2 or 3 starter when the regular season begins, a lofty position for someone with about half a season of major-league experience to his name.

And, really, whether he's the ace or the fifth starter doesn't matter. Boyd marks the franchise's fifth Opening Day starter in five years; the last one to repeat was Kyle Hendricks from 2020-22. The Cubs need Horton to be at his best to compete with the rotations that the rest of the NL Central is capable of fielding. Despite middling results thus far in spring training, the Rookie of the Year runner-up appears poised to to answer that call in 2026.