Chicago Cubs: Who was more valuable – Anthony Rizzo or Jake Arrieta?

Jake Arrieta Becomes An Ace

Jake Arrieta was a pitcher coming into the season who looked to slot in as a nice second or third starter behind ace Jon Lester.

Instead, he went 22-6 en route to the first Cy Young award of his big-league career, setting himself up for a major payroll when he hits free agency in the not-so-distant future.

Looking beyond the numbers, Arrieta became the ace, posting a historical second half. He finished an MLB-best 12-1 after the All-Star break to go with an MLB-best 0.75 ERA – the best earned run average ever in the second-half in big league history. He allowed only two home runs, while hitting two of his own. So, basically, he’s pretty good.

Arrieta’s spectacular season, including the no-hitter that culminated a 6-0 August and an ERA of 0.43 for the month, all led to his winning the Cy Young.

He also had four complete games, three shutouts and his hit rate (5.9 H/9) and home run rate (0.4 HR/9) were the best in all of baseball. His 0.86 WHIP was also No. 1 in MLB.

Next: Rizzo the epitome of consistency for Cubs