For A Short Period Of Time, Jake Arrieta Was The Greatest Pitcher Of All-Time

For nearly a calendar year, Jake Arrieta was the greatest pitcher the game has ever seen. This is not an exaggeration. To say what he put up were “video game numbers” would be an understatement. Arrieta, after being a part of one of the most lopsided trades in baseball history (seriously, Scott Feldman for Pedro Strop and Jake Arrieta?) Arrieta proved to be a formidable part of Chicago’s rotation in 2013-2014. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Jake Arrieta went god mode for a calendar year. On June 21st of, 2015, Arrieta threw a shutout against the Minnesota Twins. It was, at the time, the best start of his career. But he was just getting started. Jake Arrieta’s run of dominance is something that I hope baseball never forgets. In a 31-start stretch beginning on June 21st of, 2015 against the Twins and ending on May 31st of, 2016 against the Dodgers, no one was better than Jake Arrieta. In that stretch, Arrieta put up a record of 25-1. His ERA over that stretch was 1.09 with a WHIP of 0.766. He threw five complete games and four shutouts. 2 of those shutouts were no-hitters, including a start in August of 2015 against a good Dodgers team in which he featured stuff that some probably should’ve considered illegal. 

I remember in college, I would hog both of our televisions. I’d use one to watch the Tigers and the other to watch a man who was, for a brief time, the most dominant pitcher in the world. I’m only including regular-season starts in this equation. I did not include his complete-game shutout in the 2015 NL Wild Card game against a 98-win Pirates team. Joe Maddon never bothered warming up any relievers in this game. It was Arrieta’s game from the jump, and he delivered.

I love Jake Arrieta because he’s one of those bizarre baseball anomalies. He was an afterthought in Baltimore, and he was okay in Philadelphia, just never elite. But for a few summers on the north side of Chicago, he was appointment television. There have been better pitchers in my lifetime (Kershaw, Verlander, deGrom, just to name a few), but for a hot minute, Jake Arrieta was the baddest dude on earth. The Cubs don’t break the curse if not for him.

Enjoy retirement.