The only thing better than Jake Arrieta's beard is a list of his stats over the last couple months (and specifically in August).
To say the 29-year-old righty has been on fire doesn't do justice to the word. There aren't enough #FireEmojis in the world to recap his super-human streak, capped off by the 14th no-hitter in Cubs history Sunday night on national TV.
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For one, Arrieta has been pitching absolutely out of his mind in August. That's the best calendar month for a big-league pitcher since Jim Kaat went 6-0 with a 0.35 ERA for the White Sox in September 1974.
To put that in perspective, the last two MLB pitchers who went 6-0 with an ERA under 1.00 in a calendar month were Clayton Kershaw and Justin Verlander, who both wound up winning the Cy Young and the MVP awards:
Arrieta also has a stretch of 14 straight quality starts going. The last Cubs pitcher to do that was Greg Maddux in 1992 (when he won a Cy Young).
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Over that 14-start span, Arrieta has been the best pitcher in the game:
Arrieta's no-hitter was the best game pitched by a Cub since Kerry Wood's 20-strikeout game in 1998:
More fun facts from stat guru Chris Kamka on the no-hitter:
And if to make it all even better, Arrieta has done exactly what a team expects of an ace, filling the role of a stopper to halt losing streaks.
To put it all into perspective, Arrieta's ridiculous stretch has turned him into the second-most valuable pitcher in the National League this season (Clayton Kershaw is first):
Wow. Just ... wow.