Jake Arrieta

Who is Jake Arrieta?  A lot of the Chicago Cubs' success has to do with their ace Jake Arrieta, so we thought it was time for a spotlight.

Don’t mention him to Orioles fans.  Arrieta started off his career with the Baltimore Orioles where he was a mediocre pitcher at best, so they dumped him off in a trade to the Cubs.

Did he get better?  Ohhh boy did he.  Last year, Arrieta won the NL Cy Young award (psst—it’s given to the best pitcher in each league), because of his historically good performance. He had a 0.75 ERA in the 2nd half of the season, which was the lowest 2nd half in the history of baseball. (Psst— ERA stands for earned run average.  If you need some perspective, an ERA under 3 is considered pretty awesome).  He’s known for having a spectacular and wide repertoire of pitches at his command.

How’s he doing this year?  He’s already on a roll.  He is 6-0 to start this season with a 1.13 ERA, and had a no-hitter against the Reds earlier this year.  He is doing so well that some of his fellow players even asked him if he was using PEDs.  He wasn’t. But he was flattered.

That’s great, but how can I use this info to my advantage?  If you’ve been trying to drag your boyfriend to Pilates, just tell him to man up and give it a try like Arrieta.  He’s been using Pilates for the past couple of years to help him with his flexibility and strength, and even got half the players in the clubhouse into it.  Maybe it’s the Cubs’ secret sauce?