Jed Hoyer’s deadline haul changed the look of the Cubs’ rotation fast, and it may have saved them from having to lean on Colin Rea in the kind of October spot nobody wants to revisit.
Rea has been valuable. He has filled in over the last two years whenever the Cubs needed someone to absorb innings, stepping in for Justin Steele when he went down for the year last April and doing the same after Cade Horton’s season ended in his second start of 2026. But if Chicago reaches a win-or-go-home game, he should not be the one taking the ball.
The bigger point is that the rotation now looks like a group with options instead of a staff held together by hope. Clay Holmes, Kevin Gausman and David Peterson were all added, and there could still be more help coming if Ben Brown and Edward Cabrera make it back from the IL in the final months of the regular season. With that in mind, the Cubs can start mapping out a postseason plan.
Kevin Gausman looks like the obvious name at the top. When you trade for a pitcher like that, you do it with October in mind.
Gausman anchored the Blue Jays during their run to the American League pennant last year, carrying them all the way to the edge of a World Series title, and that kind of experience matters when the games tighten up. His surface numbers this season haven’t matched the pedigree, but some of the expected metrics point toward positive regression.
He may not be Tarik Skubal, but he brings the kind of track record that fits the postseason, and it would be a surprise if Counsell turned elsewhere to start a series.
Matthew Boyd also makes a lot of sense in that mix. The left-hander gives hitters a different look, and there’s value in that when a series starts to turn.
Boyd handled pressure last postseason and now comes with a fresher arm after missing a good chunk of this season. That should help him avoid the late-season wear that caught up to him last year, when a workload he hadn’t handled in years started to drag him down.
He gets chase, he can work through games even when the early stuff isn’t sharp, and those are exactly the traits a team wants in October. He has earned that kind of assignment.
Then there’s Clay Holmes, one of the biggest names moved at the deadline and one the Cubs paid a premium to get, sending top-100 prospect Jefferson Rojas to land him. That kind of cost usually comes with a clear plan, and the plan here is simple: hand him the ball and trust the defense behind him.
Holmes is among the league’s top ground-ball pitchers, which makes him a natural fit on the North Side. He’s also not new to the postseason, having worked for the Yankees in 2021, 2022 and 2024 as a reliever.
The difference now is that he’d get the chance to start a playoff game for the first time in his career.
After that, the picture gets less settled. Shota Imanaga remains in the conversation, but the path is not as clean.
If Ben Brown is healthy, he could push into that spot, though the Cubs have been very careful with the young right-hander. Even if he gets cleared by the medical staff, there’s a real question about whether the team would keep him on something like the same short leash they used with Justin Steele.
That uncertainty is what makes the Cubs’ new rotation so interesting. The top of it now has real October shape, and if everyone is available, Counsell has choices he simply didn’t have before. In a month like this, that matters.
In Other News...
Pete Crow-Armstrong Just Gave Cubs Fans A Wild New Debate
Pete Crow-Armstrong has already become one of the more intriguing voices in the Cubs clubhouse, and this week he added an unexpected layer to that profile by veering into a bizarre historical theory on a podcast. The center fielder referenced a fringe idea that has floated around online before, one that Mariners pitcher Tayler Saucedo had also discussed, and it instantly pushed the conversation far beyond baseball.
For Cubs fans, it was the kind of offbeat detour that can spark a debate without changing anything on the field, even if the subject itself is not remotely up for serious historical question. Babe Ruth is one of the most well-documented figures in the sport, with a legacy that has been studied and celebrated for generations, which is why Crow-Armstrongs comments landed as more curious than convincing. [Read more 🡒]
Tarik Skubal Had Unexpected Praise For Cubs Fans After Wrigley Loss
The Cubs spent the trade deadline reshaping their roster, bringing in Kevin Gausman and Clay Holmes to bolster the pitching staff, plus reliever Ryan Zeferjahn and outfielder Tyrone Taylor for added depth. Against that backdrop, Wrigley Field got a reminder of why it still carries a different kind of energy when a game starts to matter, even for an opponent like Tarik Skubal, who was making his first start there.
Skubal worked six innings, struck out six and allowed two earned runs in the Dodgers' loss, but the bigger takeaway came after the game when he had praise for the atmosphere he faced from Cubs fans. The reception was plenty hostile, as expected in a building like that, yet the setting still left an impression on a pitcher who has spent enough time in big games to know when a crowd is making itself heard. [Read more 🡒]
Freddie Freeman's Cubs Exit Just Added To A Dangerous Dodgers Problem
Freddie Freemans night against the Cubs ended earlier than the Dodgers would have wanted, and the latest concern came in a way that always makes a dugout tense up. Freeman had already pushed his hitting streak to 15 games and is batting .310 this season, but he was removed in the bottom of the fifth inning after appearing to feel discomfort in his wrist on a check swing.
Kik Hernndez took over at first base, leaving Los Angeles to manage a game that already carried plenty of weight against a Chicago club with its own reasons to keep an eye on the Dodgers health. Freeman has been one of the steadier bats in the lineup, so even a brief scare is the kind of development that can ripple beyond a single night. [Read more 🡒]