Rozner: Arrieta, Cubs have no doubt where they're headed

As Jake Arrieta stepped purposely and unemotionally off the mound, it belied his true feelings.

While Chase Utley was dragging his bat back to the dugout after flailing at another wipeout slider Sunday night at Dodger Stadium, Arrieta was actually excited.

Not that you could see it. Not that he'd ever show it. But he was thrilled that Game No. 129 on the regular-season calendar will land him a spot on a wall in Cooperstown, where every no-hitter is celebrated.

But to believe Arrieta is to believe it wasn't most important. For Arrieta, the biggest part of the victory was the victory itself.

And that goes a long way toward explaining the 2015 Cubs season.

“There was still a game on the line there,” Arrieta said Monday as he met the media at Wrigley Field. “I wasn't nervous. I've been through it a few times. Come close a few times.

“I wasn't going to allow the moment to dictate my mentality. Just stay with my thought process and keep it simple.”

The Cubs have traveled far this season focusing on a single pitch at a time, but not even Joe Maddon could deny the significance of Sunday night's magic.

With Kris Bryant's game-winning home run and Arrieta's no-hitter, it had a “Sandberg Game” kind of feel to it, announcing to the country on national TV that the Cubs not only have the Rookie of the Year, Manager of the Year and perhaps the Cy Young Award winner, but also a team good enough to reach the postseason.

“That's the kind of moment that can propel you mentally, and it provides you with energy moving forward,” Maddon said, referencing the Dan Johnson home run and the Rays incredible comeback on the final night of the 2011 season. “What I saw (Sunday) night was similar to that. It had that kind of feeling.

“Against that team in that venue on national TV and at the end of a road trip when we needed that game, with the plane ride home and the families and the kids and the pajamas and the team celebrating, it's up there with the greatest regular-season games in my experience.

“That can lift a team and carry a team.”

But while fans gets the chills pondering the possibilities, these Cubs players just stroll purposely and methodically toward the next goal, which is winning the next game, certainly excited by that day's result but never distracted by that day's result.

It is the genius of Maddon that he creates distraction from pressure, while ensuring there is no distraction from winning.

He dances along that fine line in order to help his team reach the finish line.

“We can see the light now,” Arrieta said. “We know it's pretty close.”

Maddon has allowed them that, the understanding of what's promised at the end of the tunnel. But Maddon also keeps them in the present, lest that light be an oncoming train.

Asked if he's pondered 20 wins, Arrieta said, “What I worry about is the four days between starts, and how I can go in as prepared and confident as possible. I know on Day 5, I'll be ready, and the results speak for themselves.”

It doesn't mean Arrieta hasn't thought about his stature within the game. He seems to know precisely where he stands and scoffed at the notion that he was introduced to the nation Sunday night.

“If you don't know about me by now, you better ask someone,” Arrieta said with his customary death stare. “I feel like I can get better, as most of the best in the game always feel.”

He spoke with the confidence of a man who doesn't have room for more hardware on his Cy Young shelf, and advanced his cause with the scowl of an angry heavyweight about to touch gloves.

It's the voice of someone who knows who he is and where he's going, not someone excited about what he's done and where he's been.

His glare on the mound is matched by his unflinching demeanor off it. He portrays a business posture because his posture is all business.

Believe if you like that his example doesn't set a tone. Just don't say it in his presence.

“There's a lot of ways to lead,” Arrieta said. “Leading by example is very important and probably what I do best, but leading verbally is also important.”

Added Maddon, “It's crucial.”

So the Cubs enter September with a comfortable lead in the wild card and a belief in themselves that is well-funded by Maddon's wizardry if not always well-founded in reality.

But for the love of Mike Bielecki and all that's holy, do not ask Jake Arrieta if there's any fear of the Cubs collapsing.

At least, don't try to look him in the eye when you say it.

brozner@dailyherald.com

• Listen to Barry Rozner from 9 a.m. to noon Sundays on the Score's “Hit and Run” show at WSCR 670-AM.