The Chicago Cubs’ first series of the season did not go the way many hoped it would, dropping the first series of the season to the Washington Nationals, who are expected to be dreadful this year.
Nobody is pressing the panic button by any means just three games into the year, but it’s not the start fans wanted to see. One major bright spot of the weekend, though, was young right-hander Cade Horton, who got Chicago its only victory over Washington with an impressive Saturday performance.
Horton pitched into the seventh inning and allowed just four hits and two runs with four strikeouts to just one walk, looking sharp like he did at the end of last year before injury knocked him out of the postseason.
Though Horton threw just 75 pitches in his debut, an update after the game from Counsell sounds like fans can expect a whole lot more than that in the near future.
Cubs Will Leave Horton Longer in Games This Year
“I expect it to be very normal as we get into the season,” Counsell said on the youngster’s workload before revealing that Horton could have stayed in the game to finish the seventh inning. “I expect him to be fully stretched out, we’re gonna ease into it but it’s fully normal…he’s going deep into games.”
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) March 28, 2026
Chicago had Horton out there for 23 appearances last year, but he threw a total of just 118 innings on a little bit of a pitch count in what was his first full MLB season. Now, the fear was that ramping him up to a healthy 32 starts was going to lead to caution and short outings by management.
Instead, it appears Counsell is going to push the youngster deeper into games as he searches for ways to improve this staff
Cubs Need Horton to take next step this year
Horton was sensational as a rookie, and his presence was obviously missed in October, but this year it’s time for him to take that next step and be the legitimate ace this staff has been missing for years now.
He has all the makings of a guy who can dominate opposing lineups, and pitching deep into games is going to give him the chance to do that. If Horton truly is unchained like Counsell seems to be alluding to, the rest of baseball could be in some serious trouble.
