Chicago Cubs players up for several regular season awards

Sep 22, 2015; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Jake Arrieta (49) waves to the crowd after beating the Milwaukee Brewers 4-0 at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports

By now, most people realize that the National League Cy Young Award race between Jake Arrieta, Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke is historic. All three players have put up numbers this season that are deserving of the award, and, as Comcast Sportsnet Chicago reporter Tony Andracki so eloquently put it, the two pitchers that don’t win the award are “going to get screwed.”

Lets look at Arrieta’s case for winning this award. On Friday night, ESPN writer Jesse Rogers tweeted out several compelling reasons for voters to give Arrieta the Cy Young Award at the end of the season. By the way, Arrieta made his final regular season start on Friday, and all stats mentioned below are permanent marks for his 2015 regular season.

Statistician Ryan Spaeder noted that Arrieta’s second half ERA was the lowest in Major League Baseball history (note that Spaeder lists Arrieta’s second half ERA as 0.75 which is slightly different from Roger’s number because of rounding). ESPN stats and info noted that Arrieta’s 0.41 ERA since the beginning of August is also an MLB record during this time frame. 

Overall, Arrieta has a 22-6 record and a 1.77 ERA.

Arrieta’s historic second half performance certainly puts in the thick of the discussion for the 2015 National League Cy Young Award. If voters consider that Arrieta plays for a better team and therefore split votes between Kershaw and Greinke who play for the same team, then Arrieta should win it.

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