Cubs make Cade Horton unavailable for NLDS, name Matthew Boyd as Game 1 starter

MILWAUKEE — One day before his team was scheduled to take on the Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell said injured starter Cade Horton has been ruled out for the National League Division Series.

“Cade will not be active this series,” Counsell said. “He feels good, but we’re not doing anything that would — we’re encouraging healing right now, so we’re not doing anything that would cause pain. We haven’t pushed him to a place that we would test that. I think as we get into later this week, we’re going to have to decide if it’s time to do that, and that decision has not been made yet.”

Horton, a leading candidate for NL Rookie of the Year, emerged as the team’s best starter with a dominant second half. The young right-hander put together a strong season, but few were better after the All-Star break. Over that stretch, Horton posted a 1.03 ERA with a 0.78 WHIP and .447 OPS against.

Horton left his final start of the season after just three innings. At the time, the Cubs said it was due to back tightness that they believed may have occurred when he was coughing while sick the previous weekend. A day later, he went for an MRI that revealed an “area of concern” in the ribs.

Horton threw off flat ground on Friday and Saturday before the playoffs started and had hoped to throw from the mound last Sunday. But his Saturday session was cut short due to pain and the team eventually announced they were placing him on the injured list with a broken rib. The earliest Horton could have returned was Game 5 of the NLDS, but that was always a long shot.

Now it seems even the NLCS may be a stretch.

“It’d be pretty aggressive,” Counsell said. “If he was (available), it would not be in a bulk situation. It would be shorter.”

Counsell told reporters Horton was not symptomatic with the work he was doing now, which included throwing off flat ground. The team does not have a schedule for him to throw from a mound. While there’s no concern of him further injuring himself, the issue is that Horton can’t throw the way he normally does due to the pain.

The team announced after its workout Friday that Matthew Boyd would start Game 1 of the NLDS on Saturday. Boyd started on Tuesday to open the Wild Card Series against the San Diego Padres and threw just 58 pitches over 4⅓ innings. Boyd was deemed ready to go this weekend after throwing on Friday.

Boyd has worked on three days’ rest before, but it has never been back-to-back starts. The 58 pitches would be the most he’s thrown before starting again three days later.

“He’s going on a small number of pitches,” Counsell said. “This would not be the decision on a six-inning or 90-pitch start. We would not be considering this. But he had his head on it probably when he got in the dugout.”

Without Horton, Counsell has to be creative with his starters. With off days after Game 1 and Game 2 of the series, Counsell can continue to be aggressive with his bullpen like he was in the Wild-Card Series. The roster for the NLDS has yet to be announced, but bulk guys like Colin Rea, Javier Assad and Aaron Civale could all be available Saturday as well.

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