Again yesterday, the Mets received a solid outing from Jacob deGrom and again they suffered a loss. It’s happened way too often this season that deGrom dominates, and the rest of the team does not show behind for him.
In the Mets 5-3 loss to the Red Sox yesterday, deGrom suffered one bad inning but was able to limit the best offense in baseball to just three runs over seven innings. He also struck out a dozen Red Sox hitters, a team that strikes out the third least in baseball.
Postgame, Red Sox manager Alex Cora told Tim Britton of the Athletic that deGrom is “one of the best pitchers we’ve faced this year. He should win the Cy Young in the National League. No doubt.”
Cora isn’t wrong, with the way he has pitched this year deGrom certainly deserves the NL Cy Young. deGrom is in the midst of a historic season on the mound.
Through 30 starts, he has posted a league-leading 1.78 ERA, the next closest mark in the National League is the Phillies Aaron Nola with a 2.42 ERA.
To put into perspective just how good deGrom has been this year, according to Britton, that 0.64 margin is the largest gap in the National League ERA race in more than two decades.
Despite his dominance, deGrom is just 8-9 on the season, and on days he starts the Mets have a record of 12-18 for a .400 winning percentage. Britto notes that only Homer Bailey, Jose Urena, Eric Lauer, and Chase Anderson have a worse team winning percentage in their starts.
It’s extremely remarkable just how poorly the Mets have performed with their ace on the mound.
Despite battling back to pick him up yesterday, the Mets offense has been lackluster all year with the righty on the mound. According to Britton, the Mets offense is hitting .218/.299/.377 in games that deGrom starts.
When deGrom does not start, they are not much better, but they hitting to a clip of .240/.316/.398. The offense as a whole has struggled all year, but for some reason, they are all that much worse when deGrom takes the mound.
Even after the Mets offense fought back to tie the game yesterday, they couldn’t buy a win. Seth Lugo gave the lead right back to the Sox on a pair of sacrifice flies.
Lugo has been one of the Mets best relievers this season, but like everyone else, he just can’t seem to get it done behind deGrom, as Britton notes he has a 7.56 ERA. He isn’t the only Mets reliever who can’t back deGrom, as the bullpen as a unit has a 6.91 ERA in his starts.
It makes absolutely no sense how poorly the Mets perform behind an ace like deGrom all season. All I know is deGrom should not be dragged down by his team any more than he already has. Jacob deGrom should be the 2018 National League Cy Young no matter what.
