The Chicago Cubs are one of many teams in baseball this winter looking to improve their starting pitching core. To help ensure that they make it to the MLB Playoffs for a second season in a row for the first time this decade, the team re-signed Shota Imanaga on a one-year qualifying offer.

Also returning to the Cubs will be Matthew Boyd, who started both Game 1s for Chicago during the postseason. However, Imanaga and Boyd aren’t exactly starting pitchers that a perennial playoff contender wants to call their ace.

Even if the Cubs don’t land an ace during MLB free agency this winter, Chicago may have their number one already on their roster. Look no further than 2025 NL Rookie of the Year runner-up, Cade Horton.

Why Horton is good enough to be the Cubs’ ace in 2026

It’s evident that Chicago missed Horton being on the mound during the MLB Playoffs, as the Cubs barely survived their best-of-three series against the San Diego Padres.

Then, after falling down early into a 2-0 hole against the Milwaukee Brewers, the NL Wild Card leaders had to claw their way back in Games 3 and 4 at Wrigley Field to force a Game 5 against their NL Central nemesis to the North, which they lost.

Horton didn’t start the season on the Cubs’ major league roster, but finished the season as one of the team’s best players before getting hurt. According to Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic, “The Cubs closely monitored and limited Horton’s innings, hoping to unleash him in the postseason. However, a broken rib shortened his final start of the season.”

Horton gave up just three home runs in the last two months of the season for Chicago. And as previously noted, his ERA improved drastically down the stretch as the 24-year-old only surrendered seven runs in his 10 starts between August and September.

The right-handed hurler posted a record of 11-4 in 23 games (22 starts), with a 2.67 ERA. But where he really shone was after the all-star break, posting an astonishing .77 ERA.

Horton commented on his own expectations for 2026 by saying, “I can do what I did in the second half. Go out there and win games for my team. That’s really my main focus: going out there and helping my team win.”

The Oklahoma City native only lost two starts in his last 14 games for Chicago. After Horton and the Cubs lost on the road in mid-July against the Minnesota Twins, the rookie pitcher made his case as to why he deserved to be in the running for the NL Rookie of the Year.

Sharma also added that “Horton started to use his change-up more as this past season progressed, and to much success.” Furthermore, “His four-seam fastball has a unique cutting action that makes it hard for the opposition to read. That, paired with an imposing sweeper, was what got Horton drafted by the Cubs with the No. 7 pick in the summer of 2022.”

During that span, Horton racked up eight strikeouts on the road against the eventual AL Champions and 2025 World Series runner-ups, the Toronto Blue Jays. In the Cubs’ 4-1 victory against the Blue Jays, their starting pitcher gave up just one hit and one earned run in five and two-thirds innings.

Showings like this give hope for Chicago and its future. Even if the Cubs can’t add another ace to their starting rotation for next season, getting a healthy Horton back for his second year in the majors could be good enough.