I know, I know. If you had your choice you’d like to take all three in your rotation and vote all three the Cy Young, baseball’s award for the best pitcher in baseball for the season that was.
But Jake Arreita didn’t win the award because Los Angeles Dodgers teammates Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke knocked each other off with voters unsure who had the more stellar season.
Nope, the Cubs ace earned it.
Jake Arrieta was both the Cy Young for the Cubs and the MVP for them as well as he put Chicago as Carl Sandburg wrote, on his “husky brawling, big shoulders” and carried them to the postseason pushing the Cubs past 90 wins, pushing his team into the Wild Card spot and into the post season.
Arrieta wasn’t done however, as he shutout the Pirates in Pittsburgh then won his final game of the year in the third game of NLDS against St. Louis. For Cubs fans the playoff win against the Cards, bitter rivals, made 2015 a success. Being swept by the Mets in the Championship Series was just icing on a cake for a franchise that feels their playoff run came a year or two earlier than expected. It just bodes well for the future for them. With a young core of players and Arrieta continuing to anchor the staff, the winds may be finally blowing favorably for the Wrigley Field denizens.
Albeit the tough loss suffered in the NLCS to the Mets tainted his postseason, Arrieta’s regular season resume was impressive. Of the right hander’s league leading 22 wins, eight came against the other NL playoff teams and four more against teams that stayed in the race until the final few weeks (Minnesota, San Francisco and Washington). Additionally, Arrieta’s 1.77 ERA included pitching three shutouts and being a part of eight others, seven against playoff teams.
Truly, a year to remember for the Chicago poet on the mound. Sandburg would be proud.
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Will O’Toole is a sports cartoonist and writer. You can follow him on twitter @sawdust2012.