Chicago Cubs: Comparing every Cubs Cy Young season

Chicago Cubs: The most recent Cy Young winner helped the young Cubs rise to contention

Hard to believe it has already been five years since Jake Arrieta put on a show every time he took the mound during the 2015 season. After being an All-Star snub midseason, Arrieta proved himself worthy of being a Cy Young pitcher by putting up historical numbers the final few months as he helped lead his team to the postseason.

Overall that season Arrieta put up a 1.77 ERA, 2.35 FIP, 0.87 WHIP, 236 strikeouts, 48 walks and 7.0 fWAR in 229 innings. Arrieta was best in all of baseball in wins (22), complete games (4), hits-per-nine (5.9) and HR/9 (0.4). As for those second-half numbers, he put up a 0.75 ERA in 107.1 innings with hitters putting up a .148/.204/.205 slash against him.

Arrieta was in close competition with Zack Greinke for the Cy Young. Greinke finished with the lowest ERA in baseball (1.66), but Arrieta’s FIP and fWAR were better and he had more strikeouts. Despite the ERA, there are plenty of crucial stats that showed Arrieta was the better pitcher and more valuable player.

Of all the Cy Young winners, Arrieta had the lowest ERA and the only one under 2.00.

So which season was the best of these? Looking at some of the standard numbers like ERA, FIP and strikeouts, it is between Jenkins and Arrieta. It is hard to argue against a near-10 fWAR player and Hall of Famer in Jenkins, though Arrieta’s second half was nothing like we have seen before. Regardless, all five of these seasons were well deserving of Cy Young Awards and should be remembered and celebrated.