Chicago Cubs pitcher Matthew Boyd (16) throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the … More
Sometime in the future when and if double-digit wins and Chicago Cubs is a category in immaculate grid, Matthew Boyd will qualify.
For the Cubs, the best part is not the fact Boyd reached double digit wins for the first time in an 11-year career, but perhaps the fact he reached it before the All-Star break and it was not one of those high scoring games where a pitcher is able to stick around long enough but it was a Greg Maddux type of performance on Saturday.
“It’s an honor, it’s a product of being on this ball club, being a part of a good ball club, and I’m really, really thankful for that,” Boyd said. “Those wins are a collective thing. It’s because the guys in this room are playing really good baseball, so it’s fun to be a part of that.”
Boyd reached the milestone by allowing four hits in eight innings on 85 pitches against the Yankees, becoming the first pitcher to throw eight scoreless innings against the Yankees since Corbin Burnes had a no-hit bid going for the Milwaukee Brewers on Sept. 10, 2023 and the first left-hander to do it in Yankee Stadium since Derek Holland tossed a two-hitter for the Texas Rangers on June 27, 2013.
“Oh wow, I didn’t even know that,” Cubs catcher Carson Kelly said about Boyd getting 10 wins for the first time. “That’s actually really cool. I think it’s special and it goes to show the hard work that he’s put in, keeping us in games and close games and giving us a chance to score runs. It’s really cool to see him get to that point.”
Boyd’s outing occurred a night after the Cubs saw Cody Bellinger homer three times off three different pitchers and Kyle Tucker get robbed of a homer by Aaron Judge, who did it three other times before getting two of the Yankees’ four hits off Boy.
Bellinger and Kyle Tucker were central figures in the Cubs’ offseason plans after consecutive 83-win seasons on the heels of a 71-91 finish in 2021 and a 74-88 finish in 2022 following the dissolving of the 2016 championship team. The Cubs acquired Tucker in a trade for at least one season from the Houston Astros on Dec. 13 and four days later the Yankees easily acquired Bellinger and got Chicago to pay five million of his remaining $52.5 million.
Those moves occurred after Boyd was signed to a two-year, $29 million contract on Dec. 7 after the left-hander showed enough in his comeback from Tommy John surgery on his left elbow with the Cleveland Guardians, who signed him in June.
And now Boyd might be among the more underrated offseason moves in the majors based on the results of the unofficial first half. Boyd is the fifth left-hander age 34 or older to get a double-digit win season for the Cubs, joining Jon Lester, Drew Smyly, Ray Prim and Art Nehf.
The differences are three of those names achieved double-digit wins already at some level of professional baseball.
Lester won 18 and 13 games in 2018 and 2019 in his ages 34 and 35 season. By that point in his 200-win career, Lester had six 10-win seasons with the Red Sox and double-digit wins in his first three seasons with the Cubs, including 19 in 2016.
Smyly notched 11 wins two years ago when he was both a starter and reliever for the Cubs but in the 10th year of his career, it was his second such season since he went 11-4 for the World Champion Atlanta Braves in 2021.
Prim won 13 games at age 38 for the NL-pennant winning Cubs in 1945 and he might be a smaller comparison to Boyd. He debuted in 1933 as a 26-year-old with the Washington Senators, made 29 appearances for the Phillies in 1935 and spent the next seven seasons with Los Angeles in the PCL where he won 126 games through 1942 before winning 22 more there in 1944.
With World War Two breaking out, Prim was able rejoin the majors in 1943 and won four games for the Cubs. After his big 1944, Prim won 13 times in 34 appearances at age-38 before finishing his career the following season.
Nehf won 13 games for the Cubs in 1928 during the penultimate season of a 184-win career. Before joining the Cubs, he posted double-digit seasons for the Boston Braves in 1917 and 1918 and five straight double-digit seasons for the Giants.
For Boyd, the only time he reached double digit victories was in 2013 when he went 11-4 for Oregon State on a roster that included Michael Conforto. Those wins resulted in the Blue Jays selecting him in the sixth round of the amateur draft in 2013.
In 2015, Boyd reached nine wins but did so by getting one win in the majors and three minor league teams while being part of the blockbuster that sent David Price from Detroit to Toronto.
With Detroit he posted consecutive nine-win seasons in 2018 and 2019 on teams who were 68-94 and 47-114 respectively.
In 2018, Boyd reached nine wins on Sept. 2 by beating the Yankees but took three straight no-decisions and lost his final start. The first of those no-decisions was a game where he allowed one run in seven innings against the St. Louis Cardinals.
In 2019, Boyd missed out on a win at Yankee Stadium by taking a no-decision in his second start when he struck out 13 in six innings. He reached his ninth victory on Sept. 22, 2019 by beating the White Sox and then lost to them in a four-inning start six days later.
Those seasons represent the last time Boyd pitched heavy workloads. He threw 170 1/3 innings in 2018 and 185 1/3 the following year but various injuries saw him not get over 78 2/3 innings until this season.
“We’ve seen Boyd quite a bit,” Judge said. “He came up with Toronto, saw him with Detroit, saw him with Cleveland last year and in the postseason. He’s a great pitcher, a great left-handed pitcher.”
After a few close calls and some injuries, Boyd getting his first career 10-win season and getting selected for the All-Star team, can qualify him as one of the feel-good stories of this season where the Cubs are vying with the Dodgers, Padres, Phillies and Mets to get the National League’s top record, especially in era when wins by starting pitchers become more challenging to attain.
