Well, it’s been up in the air for a few days now, but Jake Arrieta will not be making his regularly-scheduled start on Sunday in the regular season finale.
Here are his comments, just made to ESPN:
And Joe Maddon confirmed:
#Cubs Maddon confirms Arrieta won't start on Sunday. "We want to give the leg more rest "
— Carrie Muskat (@CarrieMuskat) September 29, 2017
The gist is that it *sort of* doesn’t matter whether Arrieta starts against the Reds or in a simulated game, because it’s all about getting in work in any case, though you’d probably rather see him able to be at 100% in a real game before the playoffs arrive, just so you know what you’ve got going on mechanically.
It sounds like, instead of a short regular season start, Arrieta will rest his hamstring a little more, throw a simulated game, and then be ready for the NLDS.
More on this, and the rotation impact, soon.