Brown: DeGrom’s Brilliance With These Mets Is Unfathomable

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Another year, another Jacob deGrom National League Cy Young Award. 

It must be a year that ends in another number.

But what has been overlooked in the dominance on the mound from the Mets’ ace is the fact that he’s done it with a constant lack of run support. It’s deGrom’s competitiveness and grit that has been truly remarkable. deGrom got nothing from his offense in many outings the past two seasons. Mix that with games he dominated that the bullpen blew for him, and most pitchers would not continue to be lights out like he has. 

But deGrom persevered through it all and came out on top. What made this year extra special for the back-to-back NL Cy Young winner was how he turned it around after a slow start. After deGrom signed his five-year, $138.5 million contract extension days before the season began, he wasn’t the same ‘deGoat’ we saw in 2018. After allowing seven runs in a start May 17th against the Marlins, deGrom had a 3-5 record with a 3.98 ERA. 

It was after that where the reigning Cy Young winner showed his true colors. The face of the Mets pitching staff would go 8-3 with a 1.89 ERA the rest of the season and look just like he did in his historic 2018 season, where he put up an absurd 1.70 ERA. deGrom finished 2019 with a 2.43 ERA after his struggles in the season’s first six weeks. 

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deGrom became the seventh pitcher in NL history to win back-to-back Cy Youngs. He joins the likes of Randy Johnson, Clayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer, Greg Maddux, Sandy Koufax and Tim Lincecum. His name goes right next to Tom Seaver in Mets history, who took home three Cy Young awards. Doc Gooden and R.A. Dickey are the other Mets pitchers to win. deGrom has five more years (assuming he doesn’t opt-out after 2022) on his contract in a Mets uniform, which means he could tie and potentially pass Seaver if he keeps pitching the way he has. 

It’s hard to fathom deGrom’s brilliance. He’s been a must-watch pitcher every five days.

But in 2020, Brodie Van Wagenen and the front office need to put together a team around him that will actually win. They need a lineup that will consistently score runs and a bullpen that won’t blow games for him. It’s time that deGrom shows his stuff in games that matter in October. We saw 2015 deGrom in the playoffs, but now we need to see the two-time Cy Young winner in postseason baseball. The Mets can’t keep wasting these incredible seasons to no avail. They need deGrom pitching three games in a World Series, leading the Mets to the promised land.

It would be a real shame if the Mets don’t win a championship with him as their ace. He’s putting up Hall of Fame numbers with a team that made the World Series once, which seems like light years ago. Imagine deGrom with a lineup that scored and a bullpen that shut games down? Put those pieces in place and he’s a 20-game winner, easily. Give him four-plus runs a game and deGrom could reach 25 wins. It’s not about regular season wins though, it’s about a championship. 

Seaver got his title in 1969. It’s time deGrom gets his.