CHICAGO – Admitting he was fatigued in the playoffs Cy Young award winner Jake Arrieta believes now that he has thrown nearly 250 innings in a season he’ll be better for it the next time around.

“I think that throwing that many innings this year after not being over, I’m not sure the total, about 170-180 ... you can train and you can prepare and you be in top physical condition but without having a workload like that under your belt it’s natural for your body to wear down or let you know, ‘Hey, we’re getting into an area we haven’t been before,’” Arrieta said on a conference call Wednesday after winning the Cy Young.

“The fatigue did set in. I’ll be the first to tell you.”

Jake Arrieta got roughed up in the postseason after his wild-card shutout of the Pirates. AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast
Arrieta threw 229 innings in the regular season which was 73 more than he ever had thrown. He added 19.2 more in the postseason where he slowly started to fade after shutting out the Pittsburgh Pirates in the wild card round. In his final two starts he gave up eight runs in 10.2 innings. It’s one reason the Cubs gave him an extra day off between the division series and the National League championship series though it wasn’t enough. The New York Mets scored three runs on him in the first inning in Game 2 as part of their series sweep.