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Cubs can rest easy after resting pitchers
- Updated: October 31, 2016
CLEVELAND — This is Jake Arrieta’s time. He’s headed into the biggest start of his career, and is fueled by kale shakes, relentless cross-training and a workload that was tailored to have him in prime condition for the first November of his baseball life.
Consider the controllables fully controlled.
• Game 6: Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. ET air time | 8 ET game time on FOX
Arrieta carried the Cubs deep into the postseason last year, and Joe Maddon loved it. But the manager and his front office hated how the National League Cy Young Award winner seemed over-extended in his last two starts of the long ride, and they vowed not to let that happen again.
Game Date Time (air time/game time) Matchup TV Gm 1 Oct. 25 CLE 6, CHC 0 Gm 2 Oct. 26 CHC 5, CLE 1 Gm 3 Oct. 28 CLE 1, CHC 0 Gm 4 Oct. 29 CLE 7, CHC 2 Gm 5 Oct. 30 CHC 3, CLE 2 Gm 6 Nov. 1 7:30 p.m./8 p.m. CHC @ CLE FOX *Gm 7 Nov. 2 7:30 p.m./8 p.m. CHC @ CLE FOX * If necessary | All times listed ET • World Series coverageShop for postseason gear: Cubs | Indians
The Cubs limited the workload for Arrieta and the other starting pitchers in the second half of the season, and the rewards for that could come in the biggest games of the year.
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Maddon wasn’t just relieved that Aroldis Chapman preserved a 3-2 lead in Game 5 to send the World Series back to Cleveland, but hopeful that he’s holding a winning hand of cards.
“We get to go with two rested starting pitchers,” Maddon said, referring to Arrieta and Kyle Hendricks, in line to start Games 6 and 7.
This is no small factor.
It could prove to be huge.
And as is true for most things with Theo Epstein’s Cubs, it hardly happened by accident.
Heading into Spring Training, one of the biggest questions the Cubs faced was how Arrieta’s powerful arm would bounce back after throwing 248 2/3 innings in 2015. The doubts didn’t last as long as the average Arizona cold front, however.
Arrieta had never thrown …
