Except for the man in shirt sleeves standing in the middle of the diamond Wednesday afternoon, Wrigley Field looked like a winter clearance sale at Eddie Bauer.
Parkas, blankets, ski masks, thermals, gloves, scarves, a fur coat or two (we see you, Marquee’s Taylor McGregor) — all making a mockery of a calendar that had just flipped to April. Game time temperature, 39 degrees, with a 21 mph wind blowing toward home plate.
And then there was Cubs left-hander Matthew Boyd, acting blissfully unaffected by conditions that had a crowd of 25,125 hunkered down in miserable solidarity. Every player on both teams sported a long-sleeve T-shirt under his uniform jersey. Everyone except Boyd.
“It’s like, what are we doing here?’’ said his batterymate, Carson Kelly.
But in this battle of man vs. the elements, the man won.
“I know he’s from the Northwest [Mercer Island, Washington], and it seemed to work for him,’’ Kelly said after Boyd struck out 10 and allowed only two hits (both to Angels shortstop Zach Neto) and two runs (one earned) in 5⅔ innings in the Cubs’ 6-2 victory in the rubber match of this three-game series.
But it did beg the question: If Boyd was willing to forgo an extra layer of clothing when the temperature was 39 degrees and the wind chill subtracted another 10 degrees, how cold would it have to be before he opted for a little extra warmth?
“Good question,’’ Kelly said. “Have to ask him. It might have to be in the negative range, and that might not even do it. I wonder what would happen if it’s 90 degrees and he has no undershirt. I guess we’ll have to see.’’
Boyd, you’ll be relieved to know, had added a long-sleeve shirt to his ensemble after the game.
“It’s just preference,’’ he said, “no more than that, right?’’
Boyd said he can recall wearing sleeves only once in his big-league career, when the Tigers opened the season (where else) in Chicago against the White Sox.
“I don’t remember how cold it was,’’ he said. “I think it was below 30, and I wore sleeves. I
