Cubs' Matthew Boyd has a season debut so weird it has historical ties to 1902 Cy Young

Matthew Boyd had a very confusing Opening Day starting pitching outing for the Chicago Cubs.

His stats ended up so bizarre that they've only been matched eight times in MLB history.

The key components, shared by statistician @JayHayKid on X, with it being limited to season openers:

• 1 or 0 walks
• 7 or more strikeouts
• 5 or more runs allowed

So the strikeout pitch was working, until it wasn't. And Boyd wasn't missing the strike zone. Maybe he was pounding the zone too much?

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It's quite the list he joined, too:

• Jacob deGrom (2023)
• Tim Lincecum (2012)
• Bret Saberhagen (1988)
• Floyd Bannister (1982)
• Fergie Jenkins (1969)
• Gary Peters (1969)
• Smoky Joe Wood (1913)
• Cy Young (1902)

Boyd specifically went 3.2 innings and allowed six runs, all earned. He struck out seven guys and walked just one.

Against what looked to be a shaky Washington Nationals lineup, it was a bad outcome for Boyd.

He gave up a solo home run to Joey Wiemer, and then from there, the Nats just tacked hits together to score more runs.

Hanging out with deGrom, Lincecum and Cy Young himself on a list is usually a good thing for a pitcher. Maybe not so much here.

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