Since the moment he made his MLB debut at Yankee Stadium, Jacob deGrom has been Mr. Reliable for the New York Mets. In fact, of all the things he does at an elite level, I think that’s his best trait.

While he’s remained steady for the Amazins, he added a new layer starting in 2018. You know, the “I’m also the best pitcher in baseball” kind of layer. DeGrom can easily make this claim because his two National League Cy Young awards, along with a third-place finish in 2020. The stats also help. Looking at qualified starters between 2018 and 2020, deGrom’s 18.6 fWAR, 2.10 ERA, and 489 innings pitched lead the league.

As we wait for the Mets to heat up the Hot Stove yet again, I thought it’d be fun to look back at deGrom’s most dominant starts since his first award-winning campaign. To make this list, I’ll be using FanGraphs’ version of Game Score.

August 18, 2018 vs. Philadelphia Phillies

Game Score: 84

Through all the dominance we’ve watched the past three seasons, deGrom has tossed just one complete game in his past 78 starts. This particular appearance against the Phiillies at Citizens Bank Park was the one. Isn’t it ironic to see Wilson Ramos hit a slow double-play ground ball in the bottom of the ninth, too?

DeGrom allowed seven hits during this particular start, which is more than double what he allowed in any of the other four starts we’ll discuss today. However, he only allowed a single run and struck out nine hitters without walking anybody. His pitch usage during this game was interesting because he tossed his slider at an 18.5% clip, the lowest that number had been since May 13th when it was 17.8%. He also leaned on his changeup at a 26.9% clip, which was the fourth straight start in which his usage finished above 22.0%.

September 14, 2019 vs. Los Angeles Dodgers

Game Score: 84

This was a classic showdown between deGrom and Hyun Jin Ryu. They both matched zeroes for seven innings — Ryu allowed two hits, no walks, and six strikeouts, while deGrom allowed three hits, no walks, and eight strikeouts. Both ended up with a no-decision, but a Rajai Davis three-run double in the eighth inning gave the Mets a victory.

If it felt like New York’s ace generated a ton of weak contact on the ground throughout this appearance, it’s because he did exactly that. DeGrom generated a 68.8% ground-ball rate during this seven-inning start, which was his highest single-game ground-ball rate of the 2019 season. It doesn’t hurt that he also paired it with a 25.0% soft-hit rate and an 18.8% hard-hit rate.

This was part of another dominant second half that helped seal the righty’s second straight Cy Young — after posting a 3.27 ERA through 110 first-half innings, he twirled an eye-popping 1.44 ERA over his final 94 frames.

August 26, 2020 vs. Miami Marlins

Game Score: 86

There are just certain nights when deGrom appears to be virtually unhittable. OK, it’s felt like that on most nights over the past three seasons, but especially when he toes the slab against the Miami Marlins.

Of the five starts getting highlighted here, this is the second and final one that included the right-hander surrendering a run, but it didn’t put a damper on his overall performance. In seven innings, deGrom allowed that one run on two hits, two walks, and 14 strikeouts. This was one of the five occurrences in which he registered 10-plus strikeouts during the 2020 season (in just 12 chances overall), and it was the only start in which he finished with a Game Score above 80.

DeGrom’s 58.3% strikeout rate, 50.0% K/BB rate, and 12.5% hard-hit rate allowed were all single-game highs for the year, while his 37.5% soft-hit rate was the second-best mark.

April 3, 2019 vs. Miami Marlins

Game Score: 88

Wait, didn’t we just talk about deGrom striking out 14 Marlins hitters in a single start? Yes, but it’s déjà vu all over again for Miami. The righty once again went seven innings and struck out 14, along with allowing no runs on three hits and one walk.

Oh, yea — and he hit a home run for good measure.

This was significant because deGrom tied Bob Gibson‘s record for the most consecutive quality starts. He made sure there was no doubt about it, too. What makes this appearance stand out from the others on this list is it’s the only one that occurred during the first half of the season. A trademark for deGrom during his Cy Young campaigns has been finishing with a flourish as a final impression to voters.

The above start against Miami was deGrom’s second of 2019. After 13 innings, he looked primed for another magical season with no runs allowed on eight hits, two walks, and 24 strikeouts. That’s when the troubles started creeping in. He failed to record a quality start in each of his next three appearances, finishing March/April with an un-deGrom-like 4.85 ERA. He clearly turned it around, though, posting a 2.07 ERA over his final 178 innings.

September 26, 2018 vs. Atlanta Braves

Game Score: 92

When deGrom took the mound on September 26th, 2018 against the Atlanta Braves, he was already the probable NL Cy Young winner. But during a year in which he led all qualified starting pitchers with a 9.0 fWAR and 1.70 ERA, he saved his best overall effort for his final start of the year. Over eight shutout innings, he scattered two hits while striking out 10. It was the 11th time he had accumulated 10-plus strikeouts in a single start that season.

What made it extra special was the final strikeout he recorded, which came in his final batter faced, giving deGrom his 1,000th career strikeout in the big leagues. This start also marked the fifth time deGrom’s slider usage crept up over 30.0% in a single game (it finished at 30.9%). At the time, the 23.9% season-long usage rate was a career-high mark. His 2.08 pitch value on a per-100-pitch basis was among the top 10 in baseball that year, while opposing hitters could muster just a .467 OPS and 36 wRC+ against that offering.