Quotes from Jake Arrieta

Being in the same sentence as Bob Gibson, that's incredible.

A lot of guys came together quickly as a group, as more than just teammates, as friends. Your family get to know each other, and you become really close, and that's a big part of the team aspect is caring about your teammates off the field, getting to know their kids, their families, their wives.

The back hair doesn't get all that long; it's just really thick. So if I don't keep it shaved once a week, it's a problem, and it could take two hours. And my wife's got to do it, so it's her problem. I told her we just need to buy a laser hair removal machine because it would take three or four years and probably 50 sessions to get rid of it.

You rarely see any blowout games.

If people call into question my work ethic, that's fine, because I know what I'm doing behind the scenes.

At an early age, if you develop a delivery or a throwing motion that is direct to the plate, then that's fine. If you have one that's slightly open, that's fine, too.

I'm probably throwing down close to 10,000 calories. And then I don't eat for three or four days.

Dry deliveries. That helps when I get the ball back in my hand - like I never really stopped throwing. The goal for me is to increase arm strength.

Regardless of how long it took or what I had to go through to get there, I had visualizations of throwing no-hitters or throwing shutouts.

When I do train heavy, it's typically one to two days a week, but the training I do just about on a daily basis is Pilates-based.

I've never had anything to hide.

I eat plants. I eat lean meat. I work out.

There's so many things running through your mind. If you can formulate a game plan that works for you and allows you to block outside distractions and get to what matters, that's how the talent is able to come out.

The timeline is kind of coming to an end as far as leading up to free agency.

It's going to come down to executing, trying to keep guys off balance and disrupting timing. That's something you can do regardless of how many times you face a lineup or face certain hitters.

Just know, especially when they were infants and toddlers, the thought these two children depend on us for everything in their lives 24/7. That's a pretty incredible responsibility.

I like my chances toe to toe with just about anybody.

Sequencing is a really big factor in preparing for a team that you've faced several times. For me, at the end of the day, I feel like if I execute, regardless if I were to use same sequencing as I have in the past against these guys, I still feel confident in my ability to have success.

As you get a little older, you understand what you need to do to be good, regardless of who likes it or doesn't like it. It's my career. And at the end of the day, it's going to be how I think I can do it best.

Just having two kids now, regardless of what happens in the field, they're there to receive you with open arms every night after every game.

You can struggle for a little while. It's going to happen. If a guy hits .200 for a while, it doesn't mean he's a .200 hitter.

On the road, we're hitting in the cages during our normal batting practice for our position players.

You want to be the team that is on the field when the last out is made on the winning side. That's obviously the holy grail in the game that I play, and that's what every player strives for.

How many people can do what I do, anyways? A handful of guys?