Chicago Cubs: A look back on Jake Arrieta’s 2015 season

Chicago Cubs Ace at the time Jake Arrieta probably had the most dominant season in the modern history of the Cubs in 2015.

Chicago Cubs’ Jake Arrieta was drafted in the fifth round of the 2008 draft by the Baltimore Orioles. Arrieta made a name for himself in the minor leagues with the Orioles, by 2009 he was ranked as the 52nd prospect in the MLB. Arrieta made his Major League debut in 2010.

Soon after being called up, Arrieta struggled, tossing a 5.46 ERA through 2010-2013. This being the reason that Arrieta and Pedro Strop were traded to the Chicago Cubs in return for Scott Feldman and Steve Clevenger. In hindsight, one of the best trades for the Cubs in the history of the franchise.

Arrieta made some changes to how he pitched when he got to the Cubs. He started using his sinker much more than his fastball. Then started to develop his slider that became his put-away pitch that we are we so used to as Cubs fans.

In 2014 Arrieta had already started to make a name for himself as he was posting a strikeout to walk ratio of 4-1. This was just a taste for what he was going to do in 2015.

Arrieta, in 2015 was out of this world. Something people have never seen before. During the second half of 2015, Arrieta’s ERA was 0.75. Zero.Seven.Five. That is the lowest ERA after the All-Star break ever. It was indeed something that you wanted to tune into. As Cubs broadcaster Jim Deshaies said,

"“He is becoming must-see TV, don’t miss a Jake Arrieta start, folks”"

I couldn’t agree with JD more. It was indeed a must-see TV.

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Arrieta season ERA was a 1.77 with a 22-6 record in 33 games started. With four complete games and three of those being shutouts. Just some unreal stuff out of the Jake the Snake.

There were a few memorable games along the ride in 2015 with Arrieta. The most memorable was probably his no-hitter at Dodgers stadium. Nine innings of no-hit ball with 12 strikeouts and just one walk. Dominate—the only word to describe that performance.

Then the most significant game he pitched in 2015 was probably to NL WildCard game in Pittsburgh. As if there wasn’t enough pressure on him before the game in a winner go home game Arrieta was on Twitter the night before the game talking smack with Pittsburgh fans, telling them they had no chance in the game. He was right; they had no chance in that game with how he pitched—another complete game shutout with 11 strikeouts.

Arrieta was the unanimous NL Cy-Young award winner, and I don’t think that it came to a surprise to anyone with how he performed. 2015 was one of the most dominant pitching performances that baseball has ever seen by Arrietta, and who knows if we will ever see something like that again.