{"id":265619,"date":"2025-09-30T04:38:21","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T04:38:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/265619\/"},"modified":"2025-09-30T04:38:21","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T04:38:21","slug":"what-we-learned-from-mondays-wild-card-workout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/265619\/","title":{"rendered":"What we learned from Monday’s wild-card workout"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chicago Cubs pitcher Matthew Boyd<\/a> said he was \u201cgrateful\u201d for the opportunity to start the wild-card series<\/a> opener Tuesday against the San Diego Padres and broke down in tears when speaking to the media about his journey.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a sucker for this sort of thing,\u201d he said before choking up. \u201cYou think about a career, you think about \u2026 this is cool for so many different reasons. It\u2019s cool because you never know when the opportunity presents itself. I waited my first eight years to get a chance for the postseason (with the Mariners in 2022), and didn\u2019t really get to be a part of it. On the field, I only threw one out. You never know when the opportunity is going to come again.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo do it with the Cubs, to do it with this group, it will never be like this again. When we come back here, the personnel will not be the same. It\u2019s a good group of guys and it\u2019s unique to this moment, and that\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boyd then teared up again, talking about his grandfather<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe would be extremely proud,\u201d he said. \u201cMy grandfather grew up in Chicago, grew up a Cubs fan (and winning in 2016) was one of the happiest days of his life. And to be a Cub, it\u2019s pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Nick Pivetta going for the Padres in Game 1, San Diego manager Mike Shildt named another right-hander, Dylan Cease, as his Game 2 starter.<\/p>\n

The former Cubs prospect is 1-9 with a 5.58 ERA on the road, and 2-1 in his career at Wrigley with a 2.50 ERA in three starts, all when he pitched for the White Sox.<\/p>\n

Why Cease?<\/p>\n

\u201cMultiple decisions, multiple things,\u201d Shildt said. \u201cDylan\u2019s been good, throwing the ball more consistently lately. If indeed there\u2019s a Game 3 and (Yu) Darvish is in play, it gives him an extra day\u2019s rest. Dylan\u2019s rested. He\u2019s thrown the ball well here. He\u2019s thrown the ball well against this club. And Dylan has a big arm, and we feel he\u2019s the guy we feel is the best suited for Game 2.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if Shota Imanaga would be the Game 2 starter, Cubs manager Craig Counsell said he wouldn\u2019t divulge his starter until after Tuesday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

Kyle Tucker isn\u2019t expected back in right field for Game 1
\n\"CubsChicago Cubs right fielder Kyle Tucker takes batting practice before a game against the New York Mets at Wrigley Field on Sept. 25, 2025, in Chicago. (John J. Kim\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

After missing about three weeks because of his left calf strain, Kyle Tucker<\/a> returned to the lineup for the final weekend of the regular season, though only in the designated hitter role.<\/p>\n

The Cubs hoped his calf would feel good enough for Tucker to play right field when the postseason started. But, at least for Game 1, that is not expected to come to fruition. Instead, Tucker is positioned to DH again on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re continuing to see some progress, but the fact that we didn\u2019t get him out there means we\u2019re just probably going to go day-to-day here with that,\u201d Counsell said of Tucker playing right field. \u201cThat\u2019s where we\u2019re at.\u201d<\/p>\n

After coming off the injured list, Tucker went 1-for-11 with one walk and two strikeouts over the weekend.<\/p>\n

Motivated Miguel Amaya, hoping to make a case for roster inclusion
\n\"ChicagoChicago Cubs catcher Miguel Amaya hits a two-run home run in the third inning against the San Francisco Giants at Wrigley Field in Chicago on May 6, 2025. (Chris Sweda\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Catcher Miguel Amaya joined the team for Monday\u2019s workout as the Cubs consider who to include on their wild-card roster, which is due to the league by 10 a.m. Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Getting back from his ankle sprain, an injury that initially looked much worse when he landed in a heap past first base in Toronto last month, has motivated Amaya through the rehab process. He had been told by doctors he would be out 8-10 weeks when he sustained the injury on Aug. 13<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my mind, I say I still have a chance to come back, and I put all the hard work, and that\u2019s why I\u2019m here,\u201d Amaya said Monday.<\/p>\n

Amaya ran the bases during Monday\u2019s workout, saying he had to check that box. Even with as optimistic as Amaya sounded with how he is feeling \u2014 though he didn\u2019t go as far as to say his ankle is 100% healed \u2014 his lack of at-bats could work against him being included on the wild-card roster. Between May 24, when he suffered an oblique injury that sidelined him nearly three months, and Monday, Amaya recorded only three big-league at-bats and 14 last week at Triple A.<\/p>\n

As for Monday afternoon before the Cubs\u2019 workout, Amaya said he had not been told whether he could be included on the squad.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel good to go,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Day baseball at Wrigley Field to present a challenge
\n\"NationalNational League standings banners flap in the wind above the scoreboard before a game at Wrigley Field on July 6, 2025, in Chicago. (John J. Kim\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Padres manager Mike Shildt has spent enough time in the visitors dugout at Wrigley Field to know how unpredictable the ballpark can play.<\/p>\n

Shildt\u2019s four seasons at the helm for St. Louis and his last two years in San Diego have given him an idea of how the ballpark and its elements could create unique challenges this week. The Padres\u2019 2 p.m. Monday workout provided a glimpse of how the shadows might play during games Tuesday and Wednesday, both of which start at 2:08 p.m. The early weather report indicates the wind will be blowing in for the first two games.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure there\u2019s a metric or somebody\u2019s got an absolute to it, but there\u2019s not another ballpark we could say that can be any trickier than Wrigley,\u201d Shildt said Monday. \u201cWe\u2019re aware of it. We\u2019ve spent some time. We created our workout time around it. It\u2019s really just about continued awareness of the environment and making sure we\u2019re communicating consistently as the game goes and know that in the second it could be different than the fourth and could be different than the seventh. And the time of game, we\u2019re going to see shadows and sun balls.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re aware of all of that, and just a matter of being present with what the game\u2019s presenting us, including the elements.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally Published: September 29, 2025 at 6:36 PM CDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chicago Cubs pitcher Matthew Boyd said he was \u201cgrateful\u201d for the opportunity to start the wild-card series opener…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":265620,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,1271,1816,67720,5386,1818,5605,5436,85485,876,61637,116047,1306,132595],"class_list":{"0":"post-265619","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-chicago-cubs","10":"tag-craig-counsell","11":"tag-dylan-cease","12":"tag-il","13":"tag-illinois","14":"tag-kyle-tucker","15":"tag-matthew-boyd","16":"tag-miguel-amaya","17":"tag-mike-shildt","18":"tag-mlb-playoffs","19":"tag-mlb-postseason","20":"tag-san-diego-padres","21":"tag-wild-card-series"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115291404639944323","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265619\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}