Chicago Cubs Score and Recap (3/26/26): Nationals 10, Cubs 4 – Boyd Battered on Opening Day

The Cubs kicked off the 2026 regular season against the Nationals on a cloudy and windy Thursday afternoon at Wrigley Field. Unfortunately for the home team, Opening-Day starter Matthew Boyd completely unraveled in the middle innings as they went down to defeat.

Washington went ahead on a solo home run by former Brewer Joey Wiemer in the top of the 2nd inning. Michael Busch and Pete Crow-Armstrong each had RBI singles off of Cade Cavalli in the bottom of the 3rd to put Chicago in front 2-1.

That lead survived only until Boyd imploded in the 4th, beginning with an RBI single by Daylen Lile and a two-run double from CJ Abrams. The Cubs lefty gave up one more before getting replaced by Ben Brown with two outs in the frame. Brown faired no better, giving up a two-run dinger to Jacob Young that gave the Nats a 7-2 advantage.

The North Siders got a couple runs back on a groundout by Dansby Swanson in the 4th and an RBI bunt single by PCA in the 7th, but Washington added another on a wild pitch in between them in the 6th. Brady House wrapped up the scoring with a two-run blast against Jacob Webb in the 9th as the road team went on to victory by a 10-4 final. (Box score)

Key Moment

The Cubs never recovered from the six-run 4th inning, and that was pretty much that.

Why the Cubs Lost

A bad starting pitching performance and a failure to come through with runners in scoring position were the decisive factors in this one.

Stats That Matter

• Boyd was getting some strikeouts early, but he got hit pretty hard: 3.2 IP, 6 R, 6 H, 7 K, and 1 BB.
• Busch had a big day with a pair of doubles and that RBI single.
• PCA was the only other Cub with multiple hits on Thursday.

Bottom Line

Certainly not the start to the season you are hoping for, but the Cubs have 161 more opportunities remaining. Boyd has never had consistent success in his career, so regression is always distinct possibility for him. Here’s hoping opening day is not a sign of things to come for the veteran left-hander.

On Deck

Game two of the series is Saturday afternoon at 1:20pm CT. Cade Horton takes the mound for the Cubs against Miles Mikolas in a game contest available on Marquee with a radio feed on The Score.