Heading into Saturday’s games, just a half-run per nine innings separated current NL ERA leader, Los Angeles’ Hyun-Jin Ryu (2.45 ERA), Atlanta’s Mike Soroka (2.57) — who shaved a tenth-of-a-run off his mark with six-inning, one-hit, shutout innings versus arguably the NL Cy Young Award frontrunner, Washington’s Max Scherzer (seven innings, three earned runs; 2.65 ERA is now third in the league), the Mets’ Jacob deGrom (2.70), Cincinnati’s Sonny Gray (2.80), and St. Louis’ second-half dynamo, Jack Flaherty (2.99).

Two thoughts. First, in a year that MLB is using a baseball with a circa-1970 SuperBall at its core, this level of pitching is simply awesome to see. Second, despite the race for pitching’s most prestigious hardware being, for the most part, a three-horse race between Ryu, Scherzer, and deGrom, a lot can happen over the course of two weeks.

A lights-out stretch of success from Gray or Flaherty — who owns a 0.76 ERA over 11 post-ASG starts — over their last few starts could hypothetically take some votes away from those aforementioned favorites.

With Scherzer’s sub-par performance on Friday looming in voters’ minds, Saturday night’s top-billing of deGrom versus Ryu — with the Mets’ still-alive postseason hopes sure to provide a solid subplot — could significantly change the landscape of the race as it currently stands.

Scherzer, 35, and his NL-leading 6.4 wins above replacement (even after missing four starts due to a mild rhomboid strain) and 2.30 FIP, as well as his 12.51 strikeouts and 1.80 walks per nine innings, respectively, could always pitch his way back into the driver’s seat, but, make no mistake, this thing is far from decided.

Ryu, 32, owned a 1.53 ERA on July 31, hit the 10-day injured list on August 2 with neck soreness, returned on August 11, and has pitched to a 7.27 ERA with an uncharacteristic eight walks over 26 innings pitched. In 2019, the left-hander owns an NL-best 1.34 walks per nine. Needless to say, the South Korean who throws six pitches for strikes has taken a step back.

For the Mets’ 30-year-old right-hander, everything’s been coming up roses since shaking off an inconsistent start to the season. From Opening Day through a May 17, six-run drubbing at the hands of Miami (nine starts; 52 innings), deGrom pitched to a 3.98 ERA with 67 strikeouts and 14 walks.

Since then (20 starts, 131 innings), deGrom leads the NL in ERA (2.20), strikeouts (164), and wins above replacement (4.6; FanGraphs), and is second in the NL in FIP over that span (2.63 to Los Angeles’ Walker Buehler‘s 2.62).

Both Jacob deGrom and Hyun-Jin Ryu have the opportunity to pick up some valuable ground in this race on Saturday. Both hurlers are at opposite ends of the momentum spectrum at the moment, but that shouldn’t change the competitive atmosphere surrounding this premier pitching matchup.