Arm of Steele |
In David Ross’ first season as manager of the Cubs, he benefited from arguably Yu Darvish’s best MLB career season — finishing second for the NL Cy Young. When Darvish pitched, he called it “win day” because it felt like a guaranteed win. The Cubs now have another arm that makes every start feel like “win day. “
Fast forward a few seasons, and Wrigley Field is an electric factory as the Cubs look poised to make the playoffs for the first time since the COVID-affected 2020 season. And a massive reason why the Cubs have sped up this rebuild and a turning in a strong season is because of Justin Steele. Steele is enjoying his best season of his young career. He was named to his first career All-Star team last month, and he currently tied for first in the MLB with 15 wins. he is the first Cub to have 15 wins in his first 25 starts since Jake Arrietta in 2016—pretty good company for the left-hander out of Lucedale, Mississippi. His ERA of 2.69 is suitable for second best in the majors — and he has flirted back and forth for the NL ERA title all year long. Steele has been incredibly efficient and has minimized damage with the best of them. His control has improved dramatically in his second full season starting. He has only walked 31 batters in 144.1 innings this season, and he walked 50 in just 119 innings a year ago. He also leads the league in home runs per 9 innings and ERA plus. Plus, he is tied for the lead in the MLB with 18 quality starts this season. Steele has given up more than three runs twice this season and has allowed precisely three runs five times in the year. That means the rest of his 18 starts have allowed less than three runs, but perhaps none were more impressive or important than last night in the Cubs’ 1-0 victory over the division-rival Brewers. The Cubs are chasing the Brewers in the division, so this weekday series against Milwaukee was crucial. After the Cubs dropped Monday night’s game 6-2 and their deficit to the Brew Crew in the division dipped to 5.0 games, there was a little bit more weight on Steele to get the Cubs back in the win column and tighten up the division race. Steele walked the first batter of the game and battled out of a jam in the first inning with just under 30 pitches. Traffic on the base paths was a common theme during his start, but the biggest wrench was a liner straight back to the mound that ricocheted off Steele’s right hip in the second inning. The scare induced the trainers out to the mound to check on him, but Steele toughened it out and battled through a bit of a limp the rest of the outing. Steele finished the fifth inning with above 90 pitches, so there was some question about whether or not Ross would allow him to start, let alone end the sixth inning. He took the ball to start the sixth and quickly retired the first two batters but allowed a hard-hit single. Many expected that Steele would stay in the game until he finished that inning or somebody got on base — but Ross trusted Steele to put the inning away even with some noise on the base paths. Steele reared back, struck out the final batter he faced, and delivered a cocky stare into the Cubs dugout. When all was said and done, he turned in six shutout innings on a career-high 111 pitches. Steele struck out eight Brewers, and his only walk allowed was the leadoff walk to Christian Yelich to open the game. He battled through a high pitch count, traffic everywhere, and a liner off the leg to end the Brewers' 9-game winning streak and put the Cubs back in the W column. Impressive. Gritty. Gutsy. If there was any doubt that Justin Steele was ACE material, he erased it. He has cemented himself as a candidate for this year’s Cy Young award, and his outing against the Brewers on Monday may be his signature performance. "It's truly special to pitch for these fans."
Steele & Ross on the "playoff atmosphere" at Wrigley Field. ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/RokWKlHfWj
