Chicago Cubs: What Jake Arrieta might have meant to the 2018 team

Chicago Cubs: With Arrieta in-tow, this team would be elite

The Cubs are 78-54 entering August 30, and 48 of their wins (62 percent) have come in games started by the likes of Lester, Hendricks, and Quintana. These starters headline the eighth-ranked pitching staff in all of baseball.

With Cole Hamels coming to Chicago with new life, the Cubs have a staff a lot of teams envy. However, that fifth spot in the rotation remains up for grabs. Add Arrieta to this rotation and we see the Cubs right there with not only Houston for best staff in baseball, but top one of the best records in the game, as well.

With the Cubs looking toward the postseason, the four-man rotation seems set, but seeing inconsistency from Lester, Hendricks, and Q lends some uncertainty on their success come October.

Having a reliable fifth option to come in a save a rough outing from one of these arms could be huge. Sure, Montgomery and Jesse Chavez are there to be long relievers and help the Cubs win a ‘bullpen game,’ but having a let’s say, Quintana and Arrieta duo to go in a winner-take-all-game could be the difference in another World Series run.

The Cubs took a risk by letting Jake Arrieta walk. That risk hasn’t paid off but Theo and the front office have done their best to make up for Jake’s replacements and the Cubs find themselves in position to win their third straight division title. Things are great in Chicago right now, but with Arrieta as a part of this team, the Cubs could be closer to Boston than anybody in baseball.