Logo

What does $20 million get you these days? In the case of the Cubs, a pitcher in Yu Darvish who is 2-3 with a 5.14 ERA.

Darvish has been a massive disappointment and has one of the worst walk rates for a starting pitcher in the MLB, issuing nearly 7.1 walks per nine innings.

The good news for Darvish, he is backed up by a bullpen that ranks 11th in ERA. The bad news is the Phillies on the other side have a bullpen ERA that is eighth in the MLB with a superior starter in Jake Arrieta. He knows the Cubs quite well as he pitched for them as recently as 2017, but it is the first time he will ever face them. For the season, Arrieta has a 4.02 ERA and has also been having a bit of a walks issue with 3.8 walks per nine innings.

Arrieta facing his old team for the first time should throw a Cubs lineup that had the total go under in eight of their 10 games entering Sunday for a loop while Darvish going up against the team that draws the fourth-most walks in the majors is a bad matchup. With getting a plus price on top of it all, it delivers a lot of value to the Phillies in this spot.

The play: Phillies, +115

Comments
anonymous profile image
Powered by RoundtableBuilt on infrastructure designed for real-time media. Learn more at RTB.io.© Roundtable 2026. By using this site you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy