Cubs set sights on passing ‘outstanding’ results from 2016

MESA, Ariz.—To top the Cubs starting pitchers of 2016 to become manager Joe Maddon's best rotation, the current crop at least must match that group's 81 victories while compiling a 2.96 ERA.

"Going into the year, it might be the best we've looked on paper, but it's still about what you do once you get on the field," Kyle Hendricks said.

Those lofty marks represent the bar the Cubs' 2016 rotation set en route to the club's first World Series championship since 1908. The addition of Yu Darvish and Tyler Chatwood at the front and back ends of the 2018 rotation, however, prompted Maddon to declare five weeks ago that this is his best starting five since taking over as in 2015.

"That's my scouting part of it," said Maddon, applying the evaluating eye that he started to develop nearly 40 years ago while appraising the Four Corners section of Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Nevada for the Angels. "(But) it's hard to beat the results of that (2016) group. They were outstanding.

"I'm just thinking moving forward, (Jon) Lester is going to be stronger. I think Kyle has another year under his belt and (Jose) Quintana is with us for a full season, Chatwood is going to be very good on sea level (after pitching in altitude for the Rockies), and then you add Yu Darvish. Think about the way they throw the baseball.

"I just think (the overall) stuff is better. That's what it comes down to. From that, when I'm talking about the best staff ever, I have my scouting hat on. More than anything, it's hard to beat the results we've shown."

The comparisons between former ace Jake Arrieta and Darvish will persist, and Arrieta posted an 18-8 record and 3.10 ERA in 1971/3 innings during the Cubs' run to the Series title. Those numbers are realistic for Darvish to attain, although he gives the Cubs a dominant strikeout dimension they haven't had since Arrieta's 2015 National League Cy Young Award-winning season.

Darvish, 31, already has shown the Cubs his ability to work out of jams with strikeouts and ground-ball double plays, as he did in a spring outing against the Athletics on March 11.

Moreover, the Cubs are banking that the resources they can provide will help Darvish maximize his talents. Continuing his stint in the National League also should benefit him as Darvish's ERA dipped from 4.01 in 22 starts for the Rangers to 3.44 in nine starts after moving to the Dodgers at the trade deadline last season.

But Arrieta has developed a big-game reputation, as evidenced by his 2015 NL wildcard victory, two triumphs in the 2016 World Series and a 3-2 victory over the Dodgers in the fourth game of the 2017 NL Championship Series that helped the Cubs hold off elimination.

Part of Darvish's motivation is redeeming himself after failing to last two innings in either Game 3 or Game 7 of the 2017 for the Dodgers.

Meanwhile, Lester is determined to pitch 200 innings this season after doing so in eight of the last 10. He fell short of the mark in 2017 and took responsibility for his inability to preserve the bullpen early in they year. That goal will take care of itself if he can improve his sharpness, as his hits and walks average per nine innings climbed by 2.8 from 2016.