Justin Steele Should be one of the Cy Young Favorites
Justin Steele once again squashed any doubt that the Cubs don’t have an ace after his Cy Young-worthy performance against the Milwaukee Brewers Tuesday night at Wrigley Field. The left-handed starter tossed six shutout innings, leading the Cubs to a much-needed win over the division-leading Brewers.
After Jameson Taillon’s pitiful start in the series-opener on Monday, the Cubs entered the middle game of their series trailing the Brewers by five games in the NL Central. The Cubs needed Steele to come out and lock down the Brewers, who had a nine-game winning streak.
Steele did exactly what you expect an ace to do.
Steele’s start wasn’t just impressive because he pitched six shutout innings, it was impressive because the lefty wasn’t on his A-game early on and he was still baffling Brewers hitters.
The Brewers, to their credit, weren’t making it easy on Steele either, fouling off several pitches on two-strike counts that led to the Cubs starter throwing 29 pitches in the first inning and 67 pitches through three.
In the second inning, Victor Caratini smashed a line drive off Steele’s knee, nailing the pitcher with a ball that had an exit velocity of 100.2mph.
Steele remained composed and earned his 15th win of the season.
Steele now has a 2.69 ERA in 144 innings this season. The Cubs have won eight straight Steele starts and 13 of the last 14.
NL Rankings
Justin Steele will head into September squarely in the middle of the NL Cy Young race. Here is how the Cubs lefty ranks among the best starters in the National League.
Justin Steele Rankings
2.69 ERA – 2nd
3.09 FIP – 3rd
3.55 xFIP – 6th
3.9 fWAR – 4th
3.5 bWAR – 4th
15 Wins – t-1st
0.69 HR/9 – 1st
168 ERA+ – 1st
Although Steele hasn’t put up the eye-popping strikeout numbers like some of the other Cy Young award candidates in the National League, he’s been one of the most consistent starting pitchers in all of baseball in 2023 and on Tuesday night he showed up when his team needed him the most.