Arrieta named NL Pitcher of the Month
Jake Arrieta completed his historic second half with another dominant month, earning him the National League Pitcher of the Month honors for September/October.
Arrieta, who also won in August, allowed just two earned runs in 46 innings -- a 0.39 ERA -- and held opposing batters to a slash line of .141/.168/.173 with a .341 OPS and won five of his six starts. He becomes the first pitcher to win the award in consecutive months since Clayton Kershaw did in 2014 on his way to winning the Cy Young Award.
:: NL Wild Card Game: Cubs vs. Pirates -- Tune-in info ::
It's one of the many reasons that the Cubs will give the ball to Arrieta for Wednesday night's NL Wild Game presented by Budweiser, airing on Wednesday, Oct. 7 at 7 p.m. CT on TBS.
Arrieta's final month of the year was a punctuation mark on perhaps the best second half for a pitcher in Major League history -- and it has also given Arrieta a strong argument to win the NL Cy Young Award.
He has not allowed a run in any of his last three starts, spinning 22 consecutive scoreless innings on the mound and finishing with a 0.75 ERA since the All-Star break, the lowest ERA after the break in Major League history. His September ERA -- 0.45 -- is the lowest since Johan Santana notched the same mark in 2004 before winning the Cy Young Award with Minnesota.
Arrieta finished the season with a 1.77 ERA, and he's the first Cubs qualifying pitcher to finish with a sub-2.00 ERA since Grover Cleveland Alexander recorded a 1.91 ERA in 1920.