On a day when the Mets’ postseason hopes were mathematically eliminated, Jacob deGrom‘s campaign for a third-consecutive Cy Young Award also came to a rather uneventful close.
In the afternoon matchup of Saturday’s doubleheader against the Nationals, deGrom was effective – though not his usual dominant self.
The right-hander slogged through five innings (113 pitches in total, 78 strikes), allowing three runs (all earned) on five hits, while walking two and striking out ten (double digits again, ho hum).
The first of those runs – and home runs – came in the third, when Andrew Stevenson sent one out to center. Then, in the fourth, an uncharacteristic wild pitch from deGrom allowed Brock Holt to score the Nats’ second run.
In the fifth, Andrew Stevenson once again proved to be a thorn in deGrom’s side, hitting an inside-the-park home run. After recording the final two outs of the inning, deGrom’s day – and season – was officially done.
Though there was some talk of deGrom’s chances for earning that third Cy Young now that the regular season is essentially over, much of the focus was placed on the team’s underwhelming season.
DeGrom expressed his own disappointment in his postgame presser.
"There's a lot of disappointment"
Jacob deGrom addresses the Mets' elimination pic.twitter.com/oOGTcaZBKm
— SNY (@SNYtv) September 26, 2020
As far as the aforementioned Cy Young race goes, deGrom’s chances have waned over the last few weeks of the season.
DeGrom is fifth on the list of ERA leaders in the National League (2.14), which does not bode well for his case. His win totals (4), though not a deterrent in previous years, also don’t help.
That being said, the right-hander still leads all NL pitchers in the strikeouts per nine innings category (13.4) and Saturday’s efforts were yet another example of his dominance in that regard.
In addition, deGrom also resides in the top four of both walks and hits per IP (0.9) and hits per nine innings (6.0), and comes in at No. 2 in strikeouts (94).
It’s clear that the stellar seasons from Trevor Bauer and Yu Darvish will present deGrom with his greatest competition in the hunt for a third-straight award, as both top many of the key categories.
With his final start now in the books, it is simply a waiting game for the Mets’ ace.
