Chicago Cubs: Ranking Jake Arrieta’s most memorable home runs

Cubs had plenty of iconic moments in 2016 – including this blast

Moving to April 2016, and times have rapidly changed. The Cubs are coming off a 97-win season that ended in defeat in the NLCS and, as for Arrieta, he was coming off his insane second half of 2015 that he rode to the NL Cy Young award.

The Cubs now had the pressure of being expected contenders.

The front office had gone all-in by grabbing John Lackey and Jason Heyward in the offseason, signifying that the time to compete was now. The Cubs were no longer underdogs, but contenders. World Series or bust. The club was fun in 2015 because they had no expectations, but now the spotlight was on the young Cubs, and it remained to be seen if they’d crack under the weight of their expectations.

With so much pressure on such a young team, it was important for them to get off to a good start, and Arrieta had answered the bell. He was already a king in Chicago after what he did the year prior the North Side, but this monster moonshot to dead center further solidified his status in the hearts of Cubs fans everywhere.

Cubs color analyst Jim Deshaies put the 440-foot bomb off Shelby Miller in perspective when he said of Arrieta “He has officially entered superhero status.”