Evan Altman

The first half of the season, which is really the first 60% of the season, will come to an end this afternoon in Cincinnati. Matthew Boyd is on the bump for the Cubs, making just his ninth start of the season due to a pair of IL stints that may end up serving him well by the time September rolls around. The lefty seemed to have been running on fumes last year as he approached a career-high innings count after several years of lower workloads due to injury.

The first four rounds of the 2026 MLB Draft took place on Saturday, and the Cubs had five picks — one in each round and a compensation pick in the second round for losing Kyle Tucker after extending him a qualifying offer. Those picks were Nos. 23, 62, 75, 98, and 126, with three of them being spent on the pitching the front office has been transparent about targeting. The other two picks were college bats, which they have long coveted with early-round picks.

With their fifth pick of the Draft, 126th overall, the Cubs selected righty Dylan Marionneaux out of Northwestern State. I know nothing about him other than his name and position, so I’ll provide more details at another time. Follow Us