Wild Justin Steele-Gerrit Cole comp emerges as latter gears up for World Series

Much has been made of the Chicago Cubs' reported interest in adding to the starting rotation this offseason. Don't expect Jed Hoyer to break the bank for someone like Corbin Burnes, but that might not be a bad thing when you consider just how good the team's 1-2 punch of Justin Steele and Shota Imanaga were in 2024.

We know the story with Imanaga. He almost single-handedly kept the Cubs' season afloat, with Chicago going a staggering 23-6 in his starts this year. Imanaga finished the year at 15-3 with a team-leading 173+ innings pitched and 2.91 ERA. That marks the lowest single-season mark by a Cubs starter with at least 100 innings pitched since 2016 (Kyle Hendricks - 2.13, Jon Lester - 2.44).

It was all eyes on Imanaga - and rightfully so. Someone quietly, though, Steele backed up his breakout 2023 showing with another strong showing - and his body of work over the last two seasons in terms of ERA is better than every starting pitcher in baseball not named Gerrit Cole.

Cole, the highest-paid pitcher in the game outside of Dodgers right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto, has long been considered one of the best starters in the league. Seeing Steele draw comps (and, seriously, their bodies of work are shockingly similar over the last two years) should give Cubs fans optimism about the front of the rotation heading into 2025.

Steele is under team control for the next three seasons via arbitration, giving Chicago a cost-controlled ace - a rarity in today's game. There's always the possibility the Cubs could look to extend him between now and the end of that span, but the front office has far more pressing areas to address this winter.

If the Cubs can slot in a Walker Buehler or Nathan Eovaldi behind Steele and Imanaga, alongside Jameson Taillon and Javier Assad and shift some of the young arms to the pen with some key offseason additions, they'll have the makings of a legitimate top-to-bottom staff. He may have missed significant time this year, but don't sleep on what Steele has brought to the table - this guy has future Cy Young contender written all over him.