Game 1 of the NLDS didn’t exactly get off to a great start for Craig Counsell and the Chicago Cubs.
The Cubs faced off on Saturday against the Milwaukee Brewers, Counsell’s former team, for the opener of their best-of-five playoff series. While Chicago got the scoring started on a Michael Busch leadoff homer in the top of the first at American Family Field in Milwaukee, Wisc., it was all Milwaukee from there.
Cubs starter Matthew Boyd took the hill in the bottom of the first … and managed to record just two outs. Boyd gave up three straight hits to begin the frame and proceeded to allow another walk and a single as the Brewers quickly took a 4-1 lead on him. The Cubs manager Counsell then pulled Boyd and replaced him with Michael Soroka, who went on to allow two more inherited runners to score make it 6-1 in favor of Milwaukee.
While Boyd was also unlucky that Chicago second baseman Nico Hoerner made a fielding error that kept the train going for the Brewers, it was clear that Boyd didn’t anything close to his best stuff. That was seemingly predictable too given that Boyd had just started in Game 1 of the NL Wild Card series against the San Diego Padres and was thus on only three days’ rest.
As a result, fans destroyed Counsell over social media for the decision to start Boyd in a crucial Game 1.
Boyd is DONE !!
— Dario Melendez (@Dario_Melendez) October 4, 2025
Goes .2 IP
Apparently … it wasn’t smart pitching a guy on 3 days rest who already struggles against the Brewers pic.twitter.com/2IrhF1sPfi
Well now I know why the Brewers havnt won anything in the postseason…. they had Craig Counsell as their manager. What an absolute idiotic decision to start Boyd on 3 days rest. Chicago Cubs in a hole
— TrainerDave05 (@DavidSe43372642) October 4, 2025
There was one person on the planet who thought starting Matthew Boyd on short rest was a good idea, and that is Craig Counsell.
— Rixter (@rixter719) October 4, 2025
Normally support Counsell, but starting Boyd on short rest, after a season high innings count, against a team that knocked him around twice is a huge mistake
— Psycho Pete (@marqueehater) October 4, 2025
Boyd, 34, was an All-Star this season, leading the Cubs in wins (14), strikeouts (154), and pitching WAR (2.6). But he also had a bad time against the Brewers during the regular season (posting a cartoonish 7.84 ERA in two starts against them) and threw a hefty 179.2 innings overall in the 2025 campaign.
Counsell clearly took a gamble there by handing the ball to Boyd for Game 1, and it came back to bite him with Boyd lasting just 30 pitches and allowing six total runs to score (though just two counted as earned runs thanks to the Hoerner error). While the Cubs still have a few games in the series left to work with, Counsell definitely has snot on his shoe right now, especially given the shade he had thrown at his former team Milwaukee before.
