Yu Darvish says he has best stuff of his life

Yu Darvish is giving the Chicago Cubs reason to be cautiously optimistic about his status entering the season.

Darvish pitched two scoreless innings without allowing a hit on Sunday against the White Sox. He walked one and struck out three.

After his outing, Darvish said he feels like he has the best stuff of his life.

Darvish: “I feel the best I have in my career … (with) the best stuff of my life.”

— Gordon Wittenmyer (@GDubCub) March 3, 2019

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Darvish says he is throwing 97 and his slider and splitter are working well.

“Yeah, because I’m throwing 97 [mph], and the slider was very good, and the split was good, too,” he said.

The Cubs won 95 games last season, which was the second-best mark in the NL. They did it despite only getting 40 innings from Darvish, who dealt with triceps and elbow injuries. If Darvish pitches the way he’s capable, the Cubs will have him, Jon Lester, Cole Hamels, Jose Quintana and Kyle Hendricks, giving them potentially the best staff in baseball. Simply getting him and Kris Bryant to perform at levels they’re capable of would be enough to potentially make them the best team in the NL.