An open letter to Jake Arrieta and his new beardless face

Dear Jake,

We saw you shaved your beard. Your wife, Brittany, tweeted out a photo of you as proof.

set free crumbs/drink droplets/possible creatures...Nice to see his face again even if it's just for a little bit �� pic.twitter.com/TSf1urU0lY

- Brittany Arrieta (@MrsArrieta49) October 30, 2015

First, we want to say we agree with your Cubs teammate Anthony Rizzo. You look good.

@JArrieta34 snake you look 5 years younger ����

- Anthony Rizzo (@ARizzo44) October 30, 2015

But we hope you'll excuse us for a moment while we mourn what was one of the best beards in baseball. The handlebar mustache and full mountain man beard combo was simply exquisite. We ranked it a 7.6 on our highly scientific 10-point scale, and we don't take these sorts of things lightly.

Watching you go on your otherworldly second-half tear this season while sporting that luscious face foliage was a beard-lover's dream. After your performance in the NL Wild Card Game, your bearded face was etched into the hearts, minds and haircuts of baseball fans across the country. We can't wait to see what this clean-shaven version of you can do, for however long he sticks around, but your beard will not soon be forgotten.

Finally, a word of warning: We're sure you've heard the stories about men whose power is housed in their locks, like Samson. Jacob deGrom merely hinted at cutting his hair, and his next outing was very un-deGrom like. Now, that's typically for hair on top of your head. We're not entirely sure how it works when the hair is on the front of your face. But, you know, just stay on your toes.

Sincerely,

Baseball, beard and baseball-beard enthusiasts everywhere