Written by Ken Rosenthal at FoxSports.com
Never mind that the Cubs’ Jake Arrieta is right-handed and the Giants’ Madison Bumgarner is left-handed.
In Arrieta’s view, the pitchers who will oppose each other Monday night in Game 3 of the Division Series are more similar than not.
“He’s so deceptive — I feel like we have a lot in common in that regard,” Arrieta told me before the series began. “We can miss in the middle of the plate a lot more than other guys.
“The angle, the depth, is hard to pick up. The feedback I know he gets, I get the same thing from the other teams. People say, ‘It looks like you’re throwing the ball from shortstop.'”
Bumgarner, too, sees the similarity in styles, saying, “the way we both throw across our body, it gives hitters a little different look.” The two also share a fierce work ethic, and intangibles, too.
Cubs manager Joe Maddon, in his news conference Sunday, was asked to sum up what makes Bumgarner so good in the postseason; Bumgarner’s career ERA in October is 1.94, the lowest of any pitcher, minimum 10 starts, since the playoffs first expanded in 1969.
“It’s not just purely his stuff. It’s his competitive nature,” Maddon said. “I think that’s what gets lost in this a lot with what we do.
“Everybody’s always analyzing numbers and pitches and how he does this and spin rotation and whatever. This guy competes. That’s what sets him apart. It’s not that his stuff is that special, it’s really good, but how he competes is what sets him apart…
“If kids are watching this and really want to understand how to get good, you compete, and you compete every pitch. And that’s why he’s as good as he is.”
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