Yu Darvish came to the Chicago Cubs essentially as Jake Arietta’s replacement after the 2017 season, which is an incredibly difficult position to fill. Arrieta was beloved by the city of Chicago because of his tremendous 2015 regular season performance. On top of that? He essentially guaranteed a victory in Pittsburgh. A couple of no-hitters didn’t hurt his cause, either.
Darvish is coming off a 2018 season that was cut short due to elbow issues and faced allegations from many reporters. Those included Alex Rodriguez, about how he has been a detriment to the team.