Jacob deGrom represents one of the few bright spots for the 2018 New York Mets. Despite his record, he was the obvious choice for Cy Young.
It’s really hard to make a Cy Young argument for anyone other than Jacob deGrom. The best argument against deGrom’s case was the fact that he only finished the season with a 10-9 record. That argument is absolute nonsense. We must remember that deGrom was playing for the offensively-challenged New York Mets.
Fortunately, the voters did the right thing and awarded deGrom the Cy Young with Max Scherzer and Aaron Nola finishing second and third respectively per the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. The top three finishers were named on every ballot, with deGrom finishing with 29 of a possible 30 first-place votes. Scherzer received one first-place vote.
The undisputed ace of the Mets finished with a sparkling 1.70 ERA — finishing second in the NL for ERA was Aaron Nola of the Phillies (2.37). That is a ridiculous difference between deGrom and Nola and it far outweighs any talks of win-loss record.
Moreover, deGrom found himself near the top of almost every important pitching metric. He finished second in strikeouts, second in innings pitched, second in WHIP, and second in WAR for pitchers. Max Scherzer finished first in three of those four categories, but his ERA of 2.53 falls well short of deGrom.
To be clear, an ERA of 2.53 is indicative of a remarkable season, but it is almost a full run higher than the number posted by deGrom. That’s downright insane and it shows just how stingy deGrom was all season long. Even when he allowed baserunners to get on, he almost always shut the door on his opponents before they could do any real damage.
Jake rarely had an off night this season. He only allowed four runs in 32 starts. He posted a quality start in 28 of his 32 starts. He was a beacon of consistency and durability on an otherwise inconsistent and injury prone team.
No other pitcher in baseball did more for his team this season. The Mets were terrible for much of the season and deGrom rarely faltered.
