This Cubs pitcher is more important than ever in Justin Steele's absence

Chicago Cubs fans are waiting with bated breath after Justin Steele hit the IL with left elbow tendinitis - hoping he can quickly return to the mound at full strength, similar to how he bounced back from an early-season hamstring injury in 2024.

Steele turned in his best start of the season this week against the Texas Rangers at Wrigley Field, firing seven shutout innings of three-run ball. The excitement that outing generated quickly evaporated with the news he was hitting the shelf for at least a couple of weeks, during a stretch where the Cubs face arguably their toughest stretch of schedule with matchups against the Dodgers, Padres, Phillies and Diamondbacks.

The Cubs don't need to figure out the rotation for a few more days thanks to Thursday's off-day, but regardless of who slots into Steele's spot in the interim, another member of the staff looks more important than ever in Matthew Boyd.

The veteran left-hander inked a somewhat surprising two-year, $29 million pact with Chicago fairly early in the offseason, leaving many fans hungry for more given the team's pretty clear need for a top-of-the-rotation arm to slot in with Steele and Shota Imanaga. Despite that skepticism, though, Boyd has been dominant in his first two starts.

He followed up five scoreless frames in his Cubs debut with six scoreless in his Wrigley Field debut this week. On the year, he's punched out 11 in those 10 frames and owns an impressive 2.54 FIP, ranking among the most valuable starters in the league in early April. Boyd was sharp down the stretch with Cleveland after returning from Tommy John last summer (2.72 ERA in eight regular season starts) - but the big question heading into this year was whether or not he could put a checkered track record health-wise behind him and be a reliable cog in the team's staff.

That's a question we won't have an answer to for some time - it's a big picture question and the 2025 season is just weeks old at this point. But with Steele sidelined, Craig Counsell is going to need Boyd to continue being an effective anchor in the rotation because no matter who you slot into that opening, it's a rotation downgrade in the short-term.

If Boyd can keep up his early dominance, weathering the loss of Steele feels doable. But if he struggles, the next two weeks could get painful quickly.