On the heels of one of the best seasons by a National League pitcher in recent memory, Chicago Cubs ace Jake Arrieta won the 2015 NL Cy Young Award Wednesday.
MLB passed along the news:
The Cubs congratulated Arrieta on Twitter:
The NL Cy Young race was a competitive one, but Arrieta managed to beat out a pair of Los Angeles Dodgers superstars in Zack Greinke and Clayton Kershaw to take home the hardware.
Below are the voting results in what was a tight race for the prestigious accolade:
"Everything I've been through makes this even more special...Grinding through AAA and second guessing myself." said Arrieta after receiving the award, per MLB Network PR on Twitter.
Arrieta went 22-6 with a 1.77 ERA, 0.87 WHIP and 236 strikeouts in 229 innings for a Cubs team that broke through with a playoff appearance. The 29-year-old righty led the NL in wins (22), games started (33), shutouts (3), complete games (4) and home runs allowed per nine innings (0.4).
He was nearly unhittable down the stretch as he went 12-1 with a 0.75 ERA in his final 15 starts, forming one of Major League Baseball's best one-two punches alongside Jon Lester.
Mark Lazerus of the Chicago Sun-Times believes Arrieta's phenomenal finish is unprecedented:
Arrieta emerged in a big way in 2014 after going from the Baltimore Orioles to Chicago in the middle of the previous season, but the 2015 campaign marked the year when he truly became elite.
He and Greinke were seemingly in a season-long battle for the honor of the NL's top pitcher, and while neither truly pulled away with the title, Arrieta's incredible run in the season's final months likely set him apart.
It was Greinke who was named the National League's Most Outstanding Pitcher in the Players Choice Awards voting, but the writers had a different view and were ultimately more impressed with what Arrieta brought to the table statistically.
Many figured the Cubs had a chance to be a factor in 2015 due largely to a young and talented lineup that included the likes of Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo and Kyle Schwarber.
They all certainly contributed to the team's success, but Arrieta's ability to give Chicago a guaranteed win when he took the mound for a large portion of the season was paramount in the Cubs becoming one of baseball's best teams.
Arrieta's ascent to the elite ranks over the past two seasons has been nothing short of remarkable, and it is fitting that the writers recognized his progress in the form of one of Major League Baseball's top honors.
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