Thursday’s finale of the three-game series between the Chicago Cubs and the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre was a masterclass in efficiency, a game that moved with a tempo rarely seen in modern baseball. While the final score of 2-1 in favor of the Blue Jays might suggest a hard-fought battle, the true narrative of the contest was the unyielding dominance of the starting pitchers, which created a rapid, almost breathless pace through the first six innings. The outcome of the game was ultimately decided by two pivotal swings, but for a significant portion of the afternoon, the story was the absence of action, a testament to the command of the men on the mound.
The opening acts of the game were a clinic in pitching and defense, with both starters, Matthew Boyd of the Cubs and Max Scherzer of the Blue Jays, rolling early. Through the first five innings, neither team was able to produce a run, as the game flew by with remarkable speed. Boyd, a left-handed veteran, was in complete control, and Scherzer was equally difficult to solve. The pace was a direct result of their ability to pound the strike zone, limiting walks and inducing quick outs. The evidence of this efficiency is clear in the play-by-play, which was littered with groundouts, pop-outs, and strikeouts. For example, the bottom of the fifth inning consisted of three consecutive groundouts. This consistent series of weak contact and short at-bats was the primary reason the early innings moved so quickly, creating a low-leverage situation that kept the game tight but uneventful.
This fast pace, however, was not simply a happy coincidence of good pitching; it was a clear sign of the Cubs’ offensive struggles. Post-game commentary noted that both pitchers were attacking the zone and that the Cubs’ offense was not able to generate much momentum.
A closer examination of the Cubs’ offensive performance reveals that the team hit a bunch of warning track balls in the early going, suggesting a lack of timing or power rather than an ability to produce solid contact. The game’s rapid rhythm was, therefore, an indicator of the offensive futility that would ultimately decide the outcome, with the Cubs making quick outs as a precursor to their later failures.
The game’s scoreless tie was finally broken in the top of the sixth inning when first baseman Michael Busch launched a solo home run to right field. The home run, which came on the very first pitch of the at-bat, was a moment of hope for the Cubs.
His swing was particularly interesting given the scouting report on Max Scherzer, which described him as a fly-ball pitcher with a high barrel rate who leaves himself open to big innings via the home run. Busch’s powerful swing capitalized on this known vulnerability, providing the Cubs with a fleeting lead.
That lead proved to be short-lived, however, as Boyd’s outstanding performance was undone by a single pitch in the bottom of the seventh. With a runner on second, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a go-ahead, two-run home run to center field, which gave the Blue Jays a 2-1 lead they would not relinquish.
This was the only mistake Boyd made, and post-game analysis pointed to the pitch as the one hard hit ball he gave up, describing it as the right pitch probably just the wrong location.
A side-by-side comparison of the final pitching lines for the two starters helps to illustrate the quality of the pitching duel:
Matthew Boyd — 7 innings // 2 hits // 2 earned runs // 1 walk // 5 strikeouts
Max Scherzer — 6 innings // 2 hits // 1 earned runs // 1 walk // 3 strikeouts
The most painful moment of the game for the Cubs came in the eighth inning, which served as a perfect microcosm of their ongoing struggles. The team had a scoring opportunity with runners on second and third and nobody out, trailing by just one run.
The situation was ripe for a strategic approach that would have focused on simply putting the ball in play to score the tying run with a single or a sacrifice fly. Instead, the offense followed with three consecutive strikeouts by Ian Happ, Kyle Tucker, and Carson Kelly, stranding both runners and squandering their best chance to get win the game before Jeff Hoffman the Blue Jays closers was brought in.
The dramatic detail that Kelly’s strikeout came after he pulled a would-be-three-run-homer which went foul further underscored the team’s reliance on an all-or-nothing approach, a strategic misfire that proved to be the ultimate difference maker.
The Cubs’ failure in this situation was not an isolated event but rather a symptom of a larger problem, as they went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position throughout the game.
Here’s the thing, folks: Manager Craig Counsell confirmed the struggle, commenting post-game on the tough at-bats against Scherzer and acknowledging Boyd’s good outing. This loss was not a standalone disappointment; it was the team’s third consecutive series loss, a significant downward trend for the first time in 2025 that suggests the Cubs are getting dangerously close to going on a real skid if their offense does not return to form soon.
With that… The Cubs will return to Wrigley Field to face the Pirates this weekend and are expected to sweep the basement dwellers. As painful as this narrow defeat in Toronto was. It was also an important lesson in the realities of winning baseball, where a single mistake or a missed opportunity can be the decisive factor.
If you cannot play with them, then root for that!