Chicago Cubs: Counsell’s brutal tactical error has team reeling ahead of NLDS Game Two

The Chicago Cubs were done by the end of the second inning in Saturday’s opening game of the NLDS versus the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field.

By the top of the third, a deflated Cubs team was already down 9-1 and focus shifted to a comeback in Game Two on Monday.

Actually, the Brewers’ brutal 6-run first inning probably sealed Chicago’s Game One fate– and that deathblow can be traced to one major error in judgment by Cubs manager Craig Counsell.

Working off three days rest for only the third time in his career as a starter, Matthew Boyd, who started the opening game of the Wild Card Series versus the Padres on Tuesday, was tabbed to be the starter for Game One of the NLDS versus the division rival Brewers. The lefty, by the way, was also warmed up in the ninth inning in the Wild Card Game Three on Thursday.

Flat, strained Matthew Boyd gets rocked

The 34-year-old came out and looked flat from pitch one, giving up three straight doubles and a walk before a crucial Nico Hoerner error at second. After giving up a single following the error, Counsell removed Boyd after 30 pitches, four hits, and a walk in two-thirds of an inning. By then, the game was already out of reach.

Boyd looking flat was understandable, given his workload this season after several years of injury-related inactivity. He hadn’t pitched over 100 innings in a season since 2019 and, coming into 2025, the Cubs were viewing 120 innings as a reasonable goal for their oft-injured free agent acquisition. As of Saturday’s game, Boyd has thrown 184.2 innings between the regular season and the playoffs.

Counsell’s reasoning for pitching Boyd, however, centered on the fact that he only had a 58-pitching outing in Wild Card Game One.

Counsell owns up

“We picked Matt Boyd to pitch,” Counsell told reporters after the loss. “I don’t know what to say. He pitched, it didn’t go well. We’ve got to make decisions. We went with Matt.

“We’re very comfortable — I was very comfortable — putting Matt Boyd on the mound today. The whole organization was comfortable putting Matt Boyd on the mound today.”

“Probably since Matthew got to the dugout in Game 1 [of the Wild Card Series], he was thinking about pitching this game,” Counsell added. “If this was a normal start and he threw 90 pitches, we wouldn’t consider this. But because he threw so few pitches, he knew he was going to be able to recover, and we thought he’d be able to recover quickly.”

It should’ve also been noted that Boyd had turned in some pretty bad numbers versus the Brewers this season, albeit in a small sample size. In his two 2025 regular season starts against Milwaukee, he had a 7.84 ERA in just 10.1 innings– easily two of the worst starts in an otherwise outstanding season.

Chicago Cubs had viable alternatives

Meanwhile, starter Colin Rea was left on the bench, allowed just 1.2 innings pitched this postseason so far after a very good end-of-season run to cap off a very solid 2025. Starter Javier Assad was left off the postseason roster entirely.

Either Rea or Assad would’ve been preferable over a stretched-out Boyd, even though Rea has put up some weak numbers versus his former team.

Jumping the gun on Boyd not only cost the Cubs Saturday’s game, but it also may have removed him from the rest of the NLDS– another brutal blow for a team already hurting from the loss of their hottest starting pitcher, Cade Horton.

Even a failed gamble in starting Rea in Game One would’ve allowed Boyd two extra days of rest for a go at Game Two.

Now, the Cubs’ backs are against the wall just as the series starts.

Source: https://www.chicitysports.com/chicago-cubs-counsell-boyd-brewers-playoffs