Inside The Cubs

What Would This Brewers Series Look Like if the Cubs Had Cade Horton?

The Chicago Cubs are fighting to stay alive without their best starter.
Maddy Dickens|
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Chicago Cubs

The Chicago Cubs are in a battle with the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Divisional Series and simply fighting to stay alive. The Cubs have been victims to their own starting rotation, specifically with Matthew Boyd and Shota Imanaga.

The Cubs forced a game four after Jameson Taillon came through in the eliminator. Taillon has been the saving grace without their rookie sensation, Cade Horton. If Horton had been available this series it could have looked entirely different.

Horton would have likely got the game 1 start instead of Boyd, and with Horton's ERA in his last seven outings (1.64), it's hard to imagine he would have had the early struggles that Boyd had.

Troubles With the Starting Rotation Without Horton

A struggling Imanaga leaving the mound in a white pinstripe unifor
Matt Marton-Imagn Images

Boyd and Imanaga both let games one and two get out of hand fast, with the Cubs unable to bounce back. Boyd allowed six runs in the first inning alone before he was yanked off the mound and it didn't get better in game two.

Imanaga, who got the nod as the starter for game two, has had significant struggles the past six weeks which have continued into the playoffs. His time was called in the third inning after a pair of homers, one being a three-run bomb by Andrew Vaughn in the first inning.

Ideally Horton would have taken the mound for the opener as their best threat on the roster against one of the best bats in baseball. When he is on the mound, the Cubs are nearly unstoppable. He is 4-1 in his last seven starts with 30 strikeouts, by far the best numbers by any Cubs' starting pitcher right now.

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With a Horton victory in game one it would have been either Boyd or Taillon for game two. One could argue to use your best available pitcher at Wrigley (Taillon), which would have kept him at the game three start position.

But Craig Counsell could have been aggressive and used Taillon for game two in Milwaukee as Boyd is significantly better at Wrigley. That would have given the team a better chance at going back to their home field with a 2-0 record.

Either way you look at it, the Cubs would have been better off with Horton playing, obviously. His next start would have either came in game four or five with the opportuinity to send the Brewers home instead of the situation they currently are in.

After dropping games one and two, the Cubs are forced to win three straight in order to keep their season alive which — a daunting task against arguably the best team in baseball. It isn't impossible, but if there is any hope of seeing Horton make his playoff debut, it will come down to Boyd at Wrigley Field today.

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Maddy Dickens
MADDY DICKENS

Maddy Dickens resides in Loveland, Colorado. She grew up with two older brothers, where their lives revolved around sports. She earned a master's degree in business management from Tarleton State University while simultaneously playing basketball and competing in rodeo at the collegiate level. She successfully parlayed a reserve national championship into a professional rodeo career and now stays involved in upper-level athletics by writing for On SI on several different MLB teams' pages, along with some NCAA sites.