Yu Darvish Is Your National League Pitcher Of The Month

I feel like everyone owes Yu Darvish an apology maybe even including myself. Nobody made it easy for him in 2018. Nobody let him get settled in 2019. There was a solid 18 month stretch there where literally 99/100 Cubs fans hated his guts and now I’m happy to report we were all fucking idiots. Even if I’ve been reporting this since last July that Yu Darvish was a reinvented power arm. It doesn’t matter who was right or wrong in the moment. What matters is that the current version of Yu Darvish is arguably the most underrated pitcher of my lifetime.

Nobody gets a free pass. Nobody gets cupcake fastballs down Broadway. He’s out there working and grinding his repertoire with relentless conviction.  Commanding cut fastballs on 2-1 while gassing 98+ up in the zone 4 times through a lineup. Without exaggeration he’s got shades of Arrieta’s 2015 but to be fair that was a full body of work. If anything this just adds context to that season and now I’m getting sidetracked.

Point is Yu Darvish is a bonafide ace. Certainly good enough to lead a MLB rotation and definitely capable of starting a playoff series and shutting down the other team. You can still talk all the shit you want but Cubs fans know he’s completely turned the corner. For the first round that’s setting the tone perfectly in a 3 game series before turning it over to Hendricks. Maybe it’s not Warren Spahn and Johnny Sain but it’s pretty fucking close. You can still go pray for rain.