Mets Cy Young Award candidate Jacob deGrom – (Image Credit: Elsa/Getty)
Jacob deGrom just completed one of the best pitching seasons in history. In a year where the Mets gave their fans little to nothing, deGrom gave their fans reason to hope for better days.
A 92-mph slider made deGrom the fastest Mets pitcher to record 1,000 career strikeouts. The 30-year old struck out 10 batters to lead the Mets to a 3-0 win over the NL East champions, the Atlanta Braves.
It was also deGrom’s final pitch for the National League Cy Young award.
When the Mets regressed after their surprising 11-1 start to the season, deGrom evolved into one of baseball’s most intriguing storylines of 2018.
Because while the Mets were drowning in their pool of futility, deGrom was cementing his case for the league’s most prominent award for a pitcher.
When I think of the Cy Young Award, I automatically think how many wins did the winning pitcher have?
The reigning back-to-back award winner, Washington’s Max Scherzer, respectively won 20 and 16 games to help secure the trophy. The year Scherzer won it for the Detroit Tigers, in 2013, he racked up 21 victories.
Then there’s the last Mets pitcher to win the Cy Young, R.A. Dickey. The knuckleball-throwing veteran won 20 games in 2012 to edge Gio Gonzalez for the award.
Dwight Gooden was the recipient for the Mets in 1985, “Doctor K” won 24 games that year.
DeGrom’s win over the Braves was only his 10th, it would be his final start of the season.
But the Cy Young award is more than wins, it’s so much more than that.
deGrom was dominant
DeGrom gave up no more than three runs in his last 29 starts (April 16, 2018 to Sept. 26, 2018) to extend his own single-season record.
The two-time All-Star finished 2018 having pitched 217 innings and a major league-best 1.70 earned run average (E.R.A). He recorded 269 strikeouts and only 46 walks.
deGrom posted those numbers on a team that failed to give him consistent run support. The Mets had the second-worst in baseball.
How can you win ballgames if your team acts like they’re allergic to scoring runs?
The bullpen didn’t do deGrom any favors. Their E.R.A. ranked next-to-last in team rankings.
Major League Baseball shouldn’t just award deGrom with the Cy Young Award, they should name a medal of honor after him.
Through the good and bad, and there was plenty of bad, he was cool under pressure. Trade rumors swirled around leading up the All-Star break, and for a brief time afterwards, those rumors picked up steam. But he never let it break his focus on the field.
A job well done
Playing in a big-market city like this one is tough, not everyone can do it. But maintaining excellence through the storm, despite everything around you moving in the wrong direction, is the type of player you build a team around.
deGrom has always shown he has the tools to be one of the greats, he put it all together this season.
The 10-9 win-loss record will raise eyebrows from critics, but that’s all it should be is just that.
A starting pitcher’s job is to put their team in the best position to win ballgames. Their paid to keep the opponent from scoring runs. No pitcher did this more effectively in 2018 than deGrom.
deGrom won’t win the Cy Young because of how many wins he had, it will be because he did his job better than everyone else.
