Chicago Cubs: How is Jake Arrieta being overlooked for the NL Cy Young?

Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

I’m going to do my best to leave my favoritism at the door here as I try to wrap my mind around how the Chicago Cubs’ Jake Arrieta is still a distant second to the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Zack Greinke for the NL Cy Young. The boys over at ESPN have been having a spirited debate about who should win the award. Their conversation, however, seems to be between Greinke and his teammate Clayton Kershaw, leaving Arrieta in third. I keep hearing how so and so is the “best pitcher in the game right now”. And so and so is never Arrieta.

How is this even possible?

The standard belief is on Greinke is that a) He’s done it all season, right from the start. And b) You can’t have a 1.68 ERA and not win the Cy Young. Valid points. But Arrieta’s season from the start has been pretty solid as well, and at times looks just as impressive as Greinke’s. For the sake of the argument, I’m leaving out Kershaw. This is a two-man race. My opinion is his name is being thrown in for his career as much as it is this season. He’s had a great 2015, but not to the likes of Greinke and Arrieta.

Don’t the numbers show that Arrieta belongs in this race? Well, he was overlooked for the All-Star game so your faith in believing things will work out as they should probably shouldn’t be solid. But as far as the numbers? Those indeed do show Arrieta not only belongs in the conversation but near the head of it.

Next: Does the win stat still mean anything?