Diary of a Chicago Sports Fan

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             All Cubs team 1965-2020 Part 2:  Pitchers

While the Cubs young position players grabbed most of the headlines in their championship season, their starting staff was outstanding and their bullpen proved to be good enough. The starting rotation was good enough to place three starters in this revised All Cubs team.  Some notably Cubs starters who didn't make this team include 1969 Cubs stalwart, Bill Hands, and the always colorful Carlos Zambrano.

Starters:

Fergie Jenkins: From 1967-72 Fergie won 20 or more games. He also completed 20 or more games in those seasons, topping out with 30 CG in 1971. In three of those seasons, he pitched more than 300 innings. The term, “workhorse” seems inadequate to describe him. That's the longest period of sustained excellence I've seen from a Cubs starter.

Greg Maddux: From 1988-1992 Maddux won between 15-20 games a year. After Greg won 20 games with an ERA of 2.18, the Cubs let him go to the Atlanta Braves. It's moves like that that kept the Cubs championship free for 108 years. Greg came back late in is career and put up a couple of nice seasons. The thing Maddux and Jenkins had in common was great control and durability.

Jon Lester: Lester is the most significant free agent signing in Cubs history. After being deceptively effective while going 11-12 in 2015, Lester came back with a 19-5 record in 2016. Lester was 3-1 in the 2016 post season. Lester had one more big season in Chicago, going 18-6 in 2018.  After a lackluster 2019 and 2020, Lester signed with the Washington Nationals as  a free agent.  He will always be fondly remembered by Cubs fans. 

Jake Arrieta: In what will no doubt go down as one of Theo Epstein's best, if not the best deal, the Cubs picked up Arrieta and Pedro Strop for Scott Feldman and Tony Clevenger. Jake went 10-5 for the Cubs in 2014, which was a harbinger of things to come.  In 2015 Arrieta had one of the most dominant season in MLB history, going 22-6 with an ERA of 1.77  Arrieta went 18-8 with an ERA of 3.10 in 2016 and it was a regression to the mean.  Jake finished his time with the Cubs in 2017, going 14-10 with an ERA of 3.53.  Arrieta was also excellent in post season play with the Cubs, going 5-3 with an ERA of 3.08.

Kyle Hendricks: As you might expect from someone nicknamed, "The Professor" Hendricks takes a scholarly approach to pitching.  While Kyle seldom breaks 90 mph with his fastball, he has averaged  7.6 strikeouts per 9 innings against 1.9 walks.  It's hard to believe Kyle has been with the Cubs for seven seasons already.  He has a record of 69-48 with an ERA of 3.12.  Though his post season record sits at 2-4, his post season ERA is exactly the same as his regular season ERA, 3.12.  Out of all the young stars that led the Cubs to the 2016 World Series championship, Hendricks has aged perhaps the best.

Relievers

Bruce Sutter: Before Bruce was sent to the Cardinals for Leon “between the wickets” Durham, Ken Reitz and Ty Waller he put together five excellent seasons out of the Cubs pen.

Lee Smith: Lee put in eight good season as the Cubs closer. In comparing Lee's stats with Bruce Sutter's, Lee had more longevity, but Sutter had the more impressive stats. I ultimately flip flopped on this and made Sutter my top pick.

Randy Myers:  After Sutter and Smith, there's a pretty steep drop-off in Cubs relievers.  Carlos Marmol was effective for a short period of time and then hitters discovered he couldn't throw a strike.  Randy Myers and Rod Beck also had their moments.  Ultimately, I went with Myers who strung together three good seasons with the Cubs, twice leading the NL in saves.

There's my staff for the Cubs from 1965 on, how does it compare to yours?