Matthew Boyd showed why the Cubs have faith in him in a brilliant outing on Sunday

Perks of my two-year-old waking up earlier than normal on Sunday morning? While she continued to consume Moana 2 on an endless loop (thanks, Disney), I was able to watch the Chicago Cubs fly the W overseas in their 4-2 win over the Yomiuri Giants at the Tokyo Dome.

That game marked the team's final tune-up before the Tokyo Series, which kicks off Tuesday morning at 5a CT. There were plenty of memorable moments: fans chanting PCA in a late-game Pete-Crow Armstrong at-bat, a very impressive start from right-hander Jameson Taillon and an RBI knock from rookie Matt Shaw - but what really caught my eye was the performance of lefty Matthew Boyd.

Boyd came out of the pen to pitch the final four innings of the game, punching out six and not allowing a run. He had the full arsenal going, too, running his fastball into the mid-90s and mixing in both the slider and change-up effectively. The backfoot slider he ran in on Giants catcher Daiki Masuda to end the game was absolutely 'nasty' - the word Taillon used to describe Boyd after the game.

Chicago raised some eyebrows with the two-year, $29 million deal it gave Boyd, a pitcher who hasn't hit 100 innings since 2019, given their need at the top of the rotation this winter. But they believe that his strong end to the 2024 season with Cleveland after returning from Tommy John was a sign of things to come - and if that's the case, the outlook for the Cubs will dramatically improve.

“One thing you’ll learn about me is I’m not really aiming for anything in terms of velocity,” Boyd told the Sun-Times after Sunday's win. “The checkpoints for me are staying in my delivery, staying behind the baseball, driving it down so it can have the life up – as backwards as that sounds. When the uptick’s there, that’s great. My game isn’t based off that. It’s about changing speeds and moving it up and around.”

Boyd won't pitch in this week's Tokyo Series. The plan is for him to return to Arizona and close out the spring training schedule, putting a bow on Cactus League play and getting ready for the remaining 160 games on the schedule, which kick off on March 27 on the road against the Arizona Diamondbacks. But it's safe to say the Cubs - and all of us, really - loved what we saw from the southpaw on Sunday morning.