For better or worse, the argument over who is the best pitcher in baseball continues to rage on with each passing day and week. It’s a discussion largely dominated by aces Jake Arrieta and Clayton Kershaw, with the likes of Madison Bumgarner and Chris Sale among those on the periphery.
The Chicago Cubs didn’t draw Kershaw during the four-game set at Wrigley Field, but the Dodgers weren’t quite as fortunate as Arrieta started Tuesday’s game. He had eight strikeouts, four walks and allowed two hits over seven scoreless innings.
Arrieta exited with the game locked in a scoreless tie, in large part due to Scott Kazmir matching the Cubs’ right-hander. The Dodgers scored five runs on the Cubs’ bullpen to snap their 23-game winning streak in Arrieta starts.
Although Kershaw did not make a start in Chicago, he’s at the top of Arrieta’s list of pitchers he watches, according to ESPN’s Jesse Rogers:
“There’s very few guys on my list of pitchers who, if they’re pitching, I’ll stop and watch. And he’s No. 1 on the list,” Arrieta said Monday. “Out of respect of how well he can mix four-plus pitches.”
After finishing first and third, respectively, in voting for the 2015 National League Cy Young, Arrieta and Kershaw are headed down a two-horse race for the award this season. Kershaw leads the Majors in WAR (3.8), WAR for pitchers (3.5), ERA (1.56), WHIP (0.65) and strikeouts (105), among other categories.
Arrieta nearly pulled dead even in ERA, is tied for the Major League lead in wins (nine), winning percentage (100 percent), and leads in ERA+ (260) and hits per nine innings (5.04). Amid outsiders developing a rivalry of sorts developing between the two pitchers, Arrieta said Kershaw will be remembered as one of baseball’s greatest pitchers.
