91Ö±²¥

CHICAGO — Cade Horton didn’t get the ending to last season that he envisioned. The Rookie of the Year runner-up dominated down the stretch and emerged as the best pitcher in the Chicago Cubs’ rotation. The plan was to fully unleash the youngster in the postseason.

Unfortunately for the Cubs, his final start of the regular season would be his final start of 2025, as he left the game early with a broken rib. Fully healthy and ready to roll, Horton took the mound Saturday and looked dominant as he led the Cubs to victory, their first of the season, 10-2 over the Washington Nationals.

“It felt really good to get out there and compete again,” Horton said. “It’s a new year — it’s exciting, a lot of adrenaline. It’s just all about controlling that and focusing on what I can control. That’s executing pitches and living pitch to pitch.”

Two days after allowing 10 runs, the Cubs offense returned the favor. It looked a lot more like everyone expected in a game between one team expected to contend for a World Series and another entering what looks like an extended rebuild.

But the offensive turnaround isn’t what stood out. Run scoring comes and goes over the course of the season. This group should be strong overall, but great teams go on extended stretches of winning largely because they’re getting the type of pitching great teams need.

The Cubs expect to take a step forward this season. To do that, they’ll need Horton to do the same.

“He’s going to take the ball every fifth day, and we need him,” veteran Ian Happ, who hit a three-run homer, said. “We need him to be this version of himself. It’s been impressive to watch. He’s going to continue to get better; that’s the fun part of having a guy like him on the staff.”

It might be unfair to expect better results than the 2.67 ERA Horton delivered in his rookie campaign. But that is the standard he set last season.

Saturday, Horton looked every part of a team ace in 6 1/3 strong innings. The young righty allowed two runs on four hits while striking out four and walking just one.

Horton used five pitches on the day, largely leaning on his four-seamer but showing a nice mix of the other four offerings overall. The four-seamer sat at 95.4 mph, touched 96.9 mph and has a unique cut-ride action that makes it tough to hit. Horton can strike out batters but prefers to pound the zone and hope for early contact, leaning on a terrific defense.

That, hopefully, is what will lead to his going deep into games. When he needs a strikeout, he can always rear back for more heat or unleash his nasty sweeper.

“Impressed with the attitude and demeanor, the ability to throw strikes, get ahead in counts,” Happ said. “He has really good stuff that’s tough to square up. If he gets the ball in play — you saw it all day today; our defense was making great plays left and right. You look up and he’s through five innings, and it’s 50 pitches.”

Horton ended the day with exactly 75 pitches. Over last season’s final two months, the Cubs were trying to keep him right at that number, limiting a pitcher who’d never thrown more than 88 1/3 innings in a professional season. He topped 75 pitches only three times in his final 10 outings, maxing out at 87 pitches.

“It was really an outing that we saw last year,” manager Craig Counsell said. “He was just so good with being in the strike zone, getting outs early in counts. It leads to very low pitch counts.”

The Cubs were intentionally conservative with Horton last year. His 2024 was marred by injury, and he arrived arguably ahead of schedule in 2025. His long-term health is so important that the Cubs did everything they could to keep him fresh for what they hoped would be a postseason push.

That didn’t happen. But Counsell and Horton expect the youngster to ramp things up this year. After cruising through six innings, Counsell wanted to continue to push Horton. But a four-run sixth for the Cubs led Counsell to back off a little.

“I wanted him to touch the seventh inning,” Counsell, who allowed Horton to get one out and throw three pitches in that frame, said. “I thought that was good for building him up. I got a little conservative, frankly. I was uncomfortable with how long he sat there the previous inning.”

This will be a season of continued growth for Horton, one in which many believe he could emerge not only as the best pitcher for the Cubs but also as one of the best in baseball. As he continues to learn and get better, Horton is embracing what’s ahead of him.

“I’m excited,” Horton said. “I don’t look at it so much as a challenge. Every game could be my last game, so I attack it the same way. Just knowing I’ll be able to go deeper into games, it’s a good feeling. It’s something I want.”

This article originally appeared in .

© 2026 The New York Times Company