Yu Darvish's First Start Shouldn't Concern Cubs Fans

Chicago Cubs fans were probably shoving their faces into their palms when starter Yu Darvish surrendered a home run on the very first pitch of the game against the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday at Spring Training. Darvish was able to get all of Cubs nation settled down after that miscue, however. He ended up striking out three batters in just a few innings of work, and his fastball managed to touch 98 on the radar gun, which is much faster than we've been used to seeing from the Japanese star.

The 98 mph cheese was a major positive for Darvish in this start, but the biggest takeaway was that he showed that he hasn't lost his command any of his several trademark breaking balls.

Darvish, baseball's all-time leader in strikeouts per nine innings with 11.1 -- seriously, look it up! -- came alive near the end of last season, as he walked just six batters while punching out 110. It appears his strikeout stuff has carried over into the 2020 season.

Darvish finally found his groove near the end of last season, as he finally justified the Cubs giving him the insane contract he picked up a few seasons ago. If he returns to his Texas Rangers form, there is no reason why David Ross and Chicago can't win the NL Central.