Chicago Cubs: Examining an unusual distribution of innings this season

Chicago Cubs: Guys could be fresh at the end of the year

Last season Kyle Hendricks spent some time on the disabled list. He wasn’t pitching that well before he went on the DL. When he came back, not only did he pitch better, but by the end of the year he was still fresh because his DL stint lowered the total number of innings he threw last season. Sometimes the rest a pitcher gets during a stint on the disabled list can be a blessing for his end of season performances. This year four of the Cubs regular pitchers have been on the disabled list.

Yu Darvish 40 IP this year/186 last year.
Brandon Morrow 30.2 IP this year/43.2 last year.
Carl Edwards Jr. 31.2 IP this year/66.1 last year.
Brian Duensing 31.1 IP this year/ 62.1 last year.

As you can see, everyone from this group will probably throw fewer innings this season than they did last season. Don’t forget Morrow also threw a 13 2/3 of innings in the postseason last year too. If they end up being healthy and fresh for the post season, the DL stints might have been the best thing that happened to them during the regular season.