Pair of Cubs pitchers find themselves in elite company with their recent dominance

When your team has a pitcher mentioned alongside the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner, Tarik Skubal, and reigning NL Rookie of the Year Paul Skenes, it's usually a good sign.

Seeing not one, but two Chicago Cubs pitchers accomplish something over the last eight or so weeks that nobody in the league, apart from Skenes and Skubal, has managed definitely stopped me mid-scroll.

Horton joined that select club with Saturday's dominant outing against the Chicago White Sox at Rate Field, helping the Cubs pick themselves up off the mat after a 12-5 drubbing in Friday's series opener. The rookie right-hander pitched into the seventh, allowing no runs on four hits and one walk, striking out three. That effort lowered his ERA on the year to 3.67.

The month of July, in particular, has been especially impressive. Horton finishes the month with a sterling 1.52 ERA in four starts. He allowed four earned runs against the Twins on July 9. In his other three outings, he combined to toss 19 scoreless frames and buoy a Cubs' starting rotation that's likely to receive needed reinforcements in the coming days.

Boyd, the unsung hero, All-Star and steal of the offseason, continues to put the team on his back every five days. He's been better than Skenes this month (and that's saying something given the Pirates' ace is in a league of his own), working to a 0.67 ERA in four starts. He'll get the ball in Monday's high-stakes matchup in Milwaukee with a chance to finish the month by taking down the surging Brewers and going toe-to-toe with their rookie phenom Jacob Misiorowski.

Adding to this Cubs' rotation would be huge down the stretch

Despite the starting pitching being widely viewed as the Cubs' biggest weakness as a postseason contender, there have been plenty of bright spots, too. Colin Rea was brilliant filling in for Shota Imanaga, who missed nearly two months early in the season, and even though he's come back to earth, he stepped up in a big way.

Imanaga got lit up against the Sox Friday, but still carries a 3.12 ERA on the year and has shown the ability to constantly adapt during his big-league career. Boyd, as I said, has been a revelation for the Cubs and has already thrown more innings than at any point since 2019 - and they've been top-shelf quality, too, evidenced by his ranking second behind only Skenes in the NL ERA race.

Continuing to develop his arsenal at the big-league level, Horton has delivered far more good than bad, really hitting his stride this month. If Jed Hoyer can add a top-tier arm and perhaps more back-end depth to this group, this could end up being a major area of strength for the Cubs as they gear up for their first full-season playoff appearance since 2018.