CHICAGO – It appears that the baseball career of one of the five Cy Young winners in Cubs’ history has come to an end.
Talking with Barstool Sports’ “Pardon My Take” podcast on Monday, pitcher Jake Arrieta, who has had two stints in Chicago, says that he’s finished playing baseball, though he has yet to make it official with Major League Baseball.
“I haven’t signed the papers, man, but I’m done,” said Arrieta on the podcast. “It’s time for me to step away from the game.”
This would bring a close to the pitcher’s 12-year MLB career in which parts of six seasons were spent with the Cubs from 2013-2017 and then the first half of the 2021 campaign.
In his time with the team, Arrieta compiled a 73-42 record with a 3.14 ERA with a pair of no-hitters to his credit. Arrieta also helped the Cubs to three-straight playoff appearances and the 2016 World Series championship.
The best stretch of his career came from 2014-2017 when he was arguably one of the best pitchers in the MLB. Acquired midway through the 2013 season from the Orioles, Arrieta went 10-5 with a 2.53 ERA in 25 starts in the 2014 season, which was the last before Joe Maddon arrived with the club.
Thanks in big part to the pitcher, the Cubs’ fortunes took a turn for the better in 2015 when the club ended their seven-year playoff drought. Arrieta turned it up in the second half to finish with a 22-6 record with 1.77 ERA as he won the Cubs’ first Cy Young Award since Greg Maddux in 1992 and his team won 97 games.
In one of the best pitching performances in team history, Arrieta pitched a complete game shutout of the Pirates in the NL Wild Card Game in Pittsburgh on October 7, 2015, scattering five hits while striking out 11 in a 4-0 victory. The Cubs would beat the Cardinals for their first playoff series win in 12 years in the NLDS before being swept out of the NLCS by the Mets.
Arrieta was 18-8 with a 3.10 ERA in 2016 as he was named an All-Star and aided the team’s run to their first championship in 108 years. Against Cleveland in the World Series, he won Game 2 and Game 6 of the series at Progressive Field, allowing only three earned runs in 11 1/3 innings.
During what would be his final season in his first stint with the Cubs, Arrieta went 14-10 with a 3.53 ERA in 2017 and won the Cubs’ only NLCS game that year against the Dodgers in Game 4 at Wrigley Field.
After three seasons with the Phillies where he went 22-23 with a 4.36 ERA, Arrieta returned to the Cubs on a one-year deal in 2021. He was able to hold his own during the first two months of the season but fell off the rest of the summer as he finished with a 5-11 record and a 6.88 ERA.
Arrieta was released on August 12th and picked up by the Padres, but his performance didn’t improve. In four starts he allowed 15 earned runs in 12 1/3 innings and was designated for assignment before the end of the season.
