After Jake Arrieta's complete game, 20th win, I thought of the last dominating Cubs pitcher in a playoff push. Rick Sutcliffe.
Sutcliffe came in a mid season trade with Cleveland.
For the Cubs in 1984, he went 16-1, 2.69 ERA, 1.078 WHIP and 3.9 WAR.
In the playoffs, he went 1-1, 3.38 ERA in 13.1 IP for 1.1275 WHIP.
The Cubs only used 8 pitchers in the Padre series. Sutcliffe won Game 1 of the series,
and was tagged with the Game 5 loss.
This year, Arrieta is 20-6, 1.88 ERA, 0.902 WHIP and 8.0 WAR (MVP caliber ranking).
Arrieta has dominated hitters with his unbelievable command. His WHIP is 44% better than the league average 1.30. As I watched him mow down the Brewers, I saw a very small trait which shows why he is so good this season. Arrieta's delivery is across his body, something that pitching coaches abhor because it leads to arm and shoulder issues. Pitching coaches teach a straight line delivery toward the plate. Arrieta has a quiet compensation that works for him. As he does a slight rocking motion on the rubber, he clears his left hip slightly which lessens the arm angle across his chest.
The hip rotation, like in a golf swing, generates more power.
This simple technique is very repeatable and works for all four of his pitches. With the same release point with command of four plus pitches, Arrieta has become one of the best pitchers in the majors.
The Cubs, 89-62 after Arrieta's win, are 15 games above my preseason prediction. Little did we know that the front office would promote the new
young core of Russell, Schwarber and Baez to the majors this season.
Arrieta is a big part of the surprising win total. In 2014, he only had
10 wins. He has already doubled that total this year.
Whether Arrieta is an MVP candidate will be philosophically debated by the sports writers. But clearly, Arrieta's presence on the mound has helped create a winning atmosphere in the Cubs locker room. He is the Cubs' MVP.
