Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

National League MVP Odds 

Here are the top five betting favorites for this award.

1. Los Angeles Dodgers SS Mookie Betts +550
2. Atlanta Braves OF Ronald Acuña Jr. +550
3. Los Angels Dodgers DH Shohei Ohtani +750
4. Los Angeles Dodgers 1B Freddie Freeman +1000
5. Philadelphia Phillies 1B Bryce Harper +1100

Mets first baseman Pete Alonso is tied for the 11th shortest odds at +2500, along with the Braves’ Austin Riley and the Phillies’ Trea Turner. Shortstop Francisco Lindor is tied for the 16th shortest odds to win MVP at +4000, alongside Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado.

Catcher Francisco Álvarez at +10000 and outfielder Brandon Nimmo at +12000 are two of many long shots to win the award this season.

Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized

National League Cy Young Odds 

Here are the top five betting favorites for this award.

1. Atlanta Braves SP Spencer Strider +400
2. Philadelphia Phillies SP Zack Wheeler +800
3. San Francisco Giants SP Logan Webb +950
4. Los Angeles Dodgers SP Yoshinobu Yamamoto +1000
5. Arizona Diamondbacks SP Zac Gallen +1200

Both Luis Severino and Kodai Senga are listed at +5000 to win the Cy Young Award, tied for the 23rd shortest odds in the NL.

Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized

National League Rookie of the Year Odds

Here are the top five betting favorites for this award.

1. Los Angeles Dodgers SP Yoshinobu Yamamoto +260
2. San Francisco Giants OF Jung Hoo Lee +500
3. Milwaukee Brewers OF Jackson Chourio +600
4. Chicago Cubs SP Shōta Imanaga +800
5. San Diego Padres OF Jackson Merrill +950

The Mets top prospects will begin the season in Triple-A Syracuse, so a path to this award seems unlikely. Luisangel Acuña and Drew Gilbert are both listed at +9000.

The post Betting Odds for 2024 National League Awards appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

After being spurned by Craig Counsell for their vacant managerial position, the Mets and Kodai Senga were informed that he is one of three finalists for the National League Rookie of the Year Award.

Kodai Senga. Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports

Diamondbacks’ right-fielder Corbin Carroll and Dodgers’ center-fielder James Outman are the other two finalists.

After signing a five-year contract with the Mets last December from Nippon Professional Baseball, Senga, 30, was one of the very few Mets bright spots during a dim 2023 season, finishing with a 12-7 record, a 2.98 ERA, and 202 strikeouts in 166.1 innings.

Senga’s patent ghost fork ball became iconic during his appearances, as he often stymied and frustrated opposing hitters.

Carroll, 23, finished with a slash line of .285/.362/.506. He was the first rookie ever to hit 25 home runs and steal 50 bases.  He finished with 116 runs and 54 stolen bases.

Outman, 26, hit 23 home runs and stole 16 bases for the Dodgers while slashing .248/.353/.437.

If he wins, Senga will join Tom Seaver (1967), Jon Matlack (1972), Darryl Strawberry (1983), Dwight Gooden (1984), Jacob deGrom (2014), and Pete Alonso (2019) as Mets’ rookies to win the award. 

The post Kodai Senga Finalist For NL Rookie of the Year appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

Edwin Diaz finished ninth in the National League Cy Young Award voting, the highest finish of any relief pitcher this season. Diaz, who compiled 32 saves with a 1.31 ERA, 297 ERA+ and a staggering 50.2 strikeout percentage in 2022, received one second-place vote (from MLB.com Cardinals beat writer John Denton) and two fifth-place votes.  No other Mets pitchers received a vote.

The Marlins Sandy Alcantara was a unanimous winner on the NL side for his first-career Cy Young Award. Atlanta’s Max Fried finished second, and Julio Urias of the Dodgers finished third.

Diaz re-signed with the Mets early this offseason on a five-year, $102 million contract, ensuring the team will have the back end of their bullpen locked up for years to come. If Diaz receives more Cy Young votes in 2023 and beyond, the Mets will be more than happy with the deal.

In the American League, Justin Verlander of the Houston Astros won his third-career Cy Young in unanimous fashion. Verlander, who has been linked to the Mets in free agency is allegedly seeking a Scherzer-type deal this offseason. White Sox ace Dylan Cease was the runner-up in the AL, while Alek Manoah of the Blue Jays came in third, and Angels megastar Shohei Ohtani finished fourth.

The post Diaz Finishes Ninth in NL Cy Young Voting appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Credit: Andy Marlin-USA TODAY Sports

While the New York Mets haven’t qualified for the playoffs since 2016, which is a streak they’re attempting to end this season, they’ve featured one of the top starting pitchers in the majors during that span and he’s continued to improve his craft every single season.

Considered a late-bloomer, pitcher Jacob deGrom didn’t make his major league debut until his age-26 season and still required a little seasoning at the highest level of competition over the next few seasons. But once the 2018 campaign rolled around, the three-time All-Star started coming into his own and has dominated on the mound ever since then.

After capturing consecutive NL Cy Young awards from 2018-2019, deGrom was looking to become the 11th hurler to win the award three different times and just the third player to receive it for the third season in a row. Unfortunately, the 32-year-old couldn’t accomplish this impressive feat as he finished third in Cy Young voting last season.

Despite coming up short in his pursuit for a third-straight NL Cy Young award, the 6′ 4″ hurler still enjoyed another outstanding performance in 2020, where he posted a career-high strikeout rate (38.8%) and a 2.6 fWAR rating through 12 starts, and is now looking to help his team end their current postseason drought in 2021. Luckily for the Mets, their superstar pitcher is already off to a terrific start and has nearly been perfect over his first two starts of the season.

Credit: Andy Marlin-USA TODAY Sports

Though deGrom remains winless during his eighth season in the majors, which shouldn’t be a surprise at this point, he’s allowed just one earned run, two walks, eight hits and has struck out 21 batters over 14.0 innings.

In comparison to the rest of the league, the dominating right-hander is currently tied for the highest fWAR rating (0.8), tied for the second-lowest ERA- (17), owns the third-lowest ERA (0.64), the fifth-lowest FIP- (35), is tied for the fifth-highest strikeout rate (42.9%) and has also produced the seventh-lowest FIP (1.50) among all starters who’ve compiled at least 10.0 innings this season, according to FanGraphs.com.

Granted, these remarkable results have been created over an extremely small sample size, however, they were largely made possible because of the success of deGrom’s high-90s fastball. It may not seem possible, but his four-seamer has actually progressed even further in 2021, which is mind-boggling because it was already considered one the top heaters in the major leagues heading into this season.

After averaging a career-high 98.6 mph with his fastball in 2020, the 2014 NL Rookie of the Year award winner has increased its average velocity up to 99.1 mph (second-highest average velocity) in 2021 and has been utilizing it 73.8% of the time, which is the third-highest usage among all qualified pitchers, according to BaseballSavant.com.

Source: BaseballSavant.com

Along with increasing its velocity, deGrom has also been gradually improving his four-seamer’s vertical and horizontal movements over the last few seasons and has reached a new high point in each of those categories during Year Eight with the Mets.

In 2019, the hard-throwing righty averaged 12.2 inches of drop and was able to reduce that number by 0.8 inches during the following season, down to just 11.4 inches of drop. But thanks to its increased velocity, his heater is now averaging 11.0 inches of drop, allowing him to locate it higher in the strike zone.

As for his fastball’s side-to-side movements, the former ninth-round selection only averaged 5.8 inches of break on his primary weapon in 2019, although he improved its horizontal break up to 6.9 inches during the 2020 campaign. Making another key adjustment this season, the Stetson University product is currently averaging 10.0 inches of break with his four-seamer, which is the most movement it’s ever created throughout his career.

Taking into account these pivotal changes, deGrom has pinpointed the location of his fastball almost perfectly through his first two outings of the season, preventing hitters from generating considerable damage against it. Even though Miami Marlins shortstop Jazz Chisholm crushed a 402-foot home run off his heater back on Apr. 10, the veteran righty has still been extremely effective with his accuracy and that’s allowed him to rely heavily on his favorite offering early on.

Here’s where deGrom has located his four-seamer in 2021:

Source: BaseballSavant.com

As a result of this location, the Florida native’s fastball has recorded career-bests in AVG (.182), xAVG (.192), wOBA (.233), whiff rate (39.0%), in zone whiff rate (37.5%), walk rate (2.9%), LD rate (15.8%) and PU rate (26.3%).

Comparing these stellar metrics to the rest of the league, deGrom is currently tied for the best run value (-4), owns the second-highest strikeout (41.2%) and whiff rates, the third-lowest xAVG and xwOBA (.268), the fourth-lowest wOBA, the sixth-lowest AVG and the eighth-lowest SLG (.333) among all pitchers who’ve earned at least 25 plate appearances against their fastball.

Considering pitcher Carlos Carrasco remains sidelined with a torn hamstring, although he’s expected to begin working out at the alternate site in Brooklyn very shortly, the Mets will be counting on deGrom to continue his dominance for an extended period. Having said that, it’ll also be extremely beneficial for the club’s offense to provide him with some run support moving forward, as they’ve scored just three runs over his first two starts.

Taking this lack of run support even further, the future hall-of-famer owns a disappointing 6-36 record when receiving two runs of support or fewer throughout his career, which is very troubling since he’s posted a 2.96 ERA and a 29.1% strikeout rate during those situations.

With deGrom eligible to opt-out of his current five-year, $137.5 million contract after the 2022 campaign, his willingness to potentially fulfill the entirety of his deal or sign an extension with the Mets would likely increase significantly if his team enjoys a successful season in 2021, allowing him to participate in the playoffs for just the second time in his career.

The post Jacob DeGrom’s Fastball Reaching New Levels of Dominance This Season appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Good Morning, Mets fans! Jacob deGrom has been nominated as a finalist for the NL Cy Young Award and Steve Cohen has Mets fans excited about the future.

Latest Mets News

Per Marc Carig of The Athletic, Steve Cohen, new owner of the Mets, spent part of his weekend directly replying to Mets fans on his Twitter handle, @StevenACohen2. Carig spoke to a few fans about what Cohen’s responses meant to them. He discussed this in an article on The Athletic.

Per Marc Carig, Cohen made a few promises to Mets fans during his weekend Q&A, including reviving an Old-Timer’s Day, a fan loyalty program, and iced coffee.

During Monday morning’s “The Leadoff Spot” on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM, Steve Phillips discussed why this could be the beginning of the greatest winter in Mets history.

Art Shamsky, formerly of the 1969 Mets, described Steve Cohen in a tweet as “a man of his people,” and someone who already has fans excited about the future.

Help the Cohen Foundation get to 3,000 followers on Twitter. Follow them on Twitter and YouTube.

Per the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, Jacob deGrom has been named a 2020 NL Cy Young finalist. The winner will be announced on November 11 at 6:00 p.m. on MLB Network.

Per the Mets on Twitter, Mets’ catcher, Tomas Nido and his wife Danielle welcomed their daughter to the world yesterday morning. Congratulations to Tomas and Danielle!

Latest MLB News

 MLB free agency began on Sunday. Baseball America released an article previewing free agency, including 10 intriguing names, upside signings and more. Mets right-handed pitcher, Marcus Stroman was labeled as one of Baseball America’s top 10 notable free agents.

Per Jeff Passan of ESPN & ESPN.com, Kiley McDaniel ranked every MLB free agent for the 2020 offseason. You can find this article with the rankings on ESPN+.

MLB Trade Rumors also did a set of free agent rankings in an article on mlbtraderumors.com.

Per BaseballCloud, former Metsmerized writer, Matt Mancuso (@MattyCuso) wrote an article looking at how different organizations built their bullpens for the 2020 season, and which strategy was the most effective.

Mark Simon of Sports Info Solutions wrote an article discussing the defense of free agents, including George Springer and J.T. Realmuto.

Per Jon Morosi of MLB Network, free agent Charlie Morton stated that he “wants to play” in 2021,” but would prefer to stay with the Rays and close to his Florida home.

Kevin Reichard of Ballpark Digest discusses the details of the MLB takeover of MiLB that have emerged and come out so far.

Baseball Writers’ Association of America Awards Finalists

The Baseball Writers’ Association of America released their 2020 Awards finalists last night.

2020 AL Cy Young Finalists:

• Shane Bieber, Indians
• Kenta Maeda, Twins
• Hyun-Jin Ryu, Blue Jays

2020 NL Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year Finalists:

• Alec Bohm, Phillies
• Jake Cronenworth, Padres
• Devin Williams, Brewers

2020 AL Manager of the Year Finalists:

• Kevin Cash, Rays
• Charlie Montoya, Blue Jays
• Rick Renteria, White Sox

2020 AL Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year Finalists:

• Cristian Javier, Astros
• Kyle Lewis, Mariners
• Luis Robert, White Sox

2020 NL Manager of the Year Finalists:

• Don Mattingly, Marlins
• David Ross, Cubs
• Jayce Tingler, Padres

2020 NL Cy Young Finalists:

• Trevor Bauer, Redsd
• Yu Darvish, Cubs
• Jacob deGrom, Mets

2020 NL MVP finalists:

• Mookie Betts, Dodgers
• Freddie Freeman, Braves
• Manny Machado, Padres

2020 AL MVP finalists:

• Jose Abreu, White Sox
• DJ LeMahieu, Yankees
• Jose Ramirez, Indians

Latest on MMO

With free agency underway, Ken Davidoff of the New York Post made his predictions for the Top 30 players on the market. Pat Ragazzo of Metsmerized, breaks down these predictions in an article on Metsmerizedonline.com.

Matt Musico wrote an article discussing new trends that will hopefully stick, and some that won’t stick for Brandon Nimmo.

In the latest episode of “Simply Amazin,” Jacob Resnick joined Tim Ryder to welcome Steve Cohen to the Mets.

Judy Kamilhor discusses rule changes that we could be seeing in the MLB in 2021 and beyond.

The Pleasant Good Evening Podcast discussed the end of the World Series, Justin Turner, and Steve Cohen News.

Dilip Sriddhar wrote an MMO Free Agent Profile on Justin Turner.

Sam Lebowitz and The Pleasant Good Evening Podcast released episode 10: “Steve Time Steve Time.”

With the MLB Awardsd finalists released, Tim Ryder discusses NL Cy Young finalist, Jacob deGrom’s nomination and the 2020 award finalists.

On this Day in Mets History

2003: Former Mets’ manager, Bobby Valentine announces he will return to Japan to manage the Chiba Lotte Marines.

Birthdays: Armando Benitez (48), Rick Herrscher (84)

Let’s go Mets!

The post Morning Briefing: Cohen Has Mets Fans Excited About The Future appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Following back-to-back award-winning seasons, Jacob deGrom was hoping to carry his outstanding results into this season and help lead the New York Mets back to the postseason for the first time since the 2016 campaign. Unfortunately, only one of those things has occurred in 2020.

With the regular season winding down, the Mets are still sitting on the outside of the playoff picture, currently two and a half games shy of the second Wild Card spot. Considering they’ll need to jump over four teams to secure the final playoff spot, there’s a very good chance they’ll fail to play meaningful baseball in October for the fourth-straight season.

While the 2020 campaign has certainly been disappointing, especially for the cardboard cutouts, the same can’t be said for the two-time Cy Young award winner, as he’s producing one of the best statistical performances of his entire career. That said, it seems like he may not be able to capture the prestigious award for the third season in a row, which would’ve made him just the third pitcher in league history to accomplish that feat.

As it stands right now, it appears that Yu Darvish, Corbin Burnes, and deGrom are currently the favorites to finish in the top-three in the running for this season’s National League Cy Young award.

Among those three hurlers, deGrom currently owns the second-lowest ERA (2.14), FIP (1.99), FIP- (46), OPP AVG (.183), walk rate (6.5%), LD rate (19.9%), and is tied for the second-highest fWAR rating (2.6), according to FanGraphs.com. In addition, the 32-year old has also produced the lowest xFIP (2.43), xFIP- (55), WHIP (0.92), and has generated the highest strikeout rate (38.2%) as well.

Depending on the right-hander’s health, he’ll likely have one more opportunity to improve these metrics even further, which could come on Saturday against the Washington Nationals. But even if he falls short of capturing the league’s top pitcher award, the three-time All-Star should still receive a ton of credit for his stellar performance during this unprecedented season.

Considering deGrom has been forced to carry the load without teammates Noah Syndergaard and Marcus Stroman, along with Rick Porcello‘s and Michael Wacha‘s struggles, the veteran arm deserves plenty of praise and respect for what he’s been able to accomplish in 2020. Ironically, the former ninth-round pick has taken his game to another level this season and he still might not win the Cy Young award.

Over his 11 starts, deGrom has compiled 63 innings, producing career-bests in xFIP, WHIP, OPP AVG, xAVG (.198), LD rate, and has tied his lowest ERA. Additionally, the 2014 NL Rookie of the Year award winner has also recorded his highest strikeout rate, whiff rate (41.7%), chase rate (35.1%), and he’s even improved his weak-contact rate by 0.9%, which is notable because he’s not known for inducing soft contact.

After winning two-consecutive Cy Young awards, most experts believed the Florida native could be considered a finished product and almost no one was expecting him to improve his repertoire during his age-32 season. Well, the 6-foot-4 hurler has shocked the baseball world yet again, proving why he’s arguably the top pitcher in the major leagues and the state of New York as well.

While his fastball averaged the third-highest velocity (96.9 mph) in the majors last season, deGrom decided he could do even better and take his heater to another level in 2020. And he’s done exactly that.

Though the hard-throwing righty still sits third in average velocity (98.5 mph), his ability to increase the average spin rate against his four-seamer by 91 RPMs has increased its speed by 1.6 mph, which has allowed it to consistently touch triple digits throughout this season.

As a result of these adjustments, the Stetson product has generated a .182 AVG (down .037 from 2019), .195 xAVG (.028 decrease), .295 SLG (.105 decrease), .329 xSLG (.076 decrease), .227 wOBA (.065 decrease), .247 xwOBA (.051 decrease), 44.2% strikeout rate (16.3% increase), 38.8% whiff rate (11.7% increase), along with a 34.7% in zone whiff rate (10.2% increase) against his four-seamer.

Despite the success he’s enjoyed with his fastball, deGrom has endured a few low points this summer and they’ve prevented him from reaching his full potential. While the potential Hall of Famer has historically been able to work out of trouble with runners in scoring position, he hasn’t replicated that same success and has struggled to throw first-pitch strikes this season.

Over the last two seasons, the superstar hurler produced a 2.37 FIP, 3.11 xFIP, 0.85 WHIP, .163 OPP AVG, .209 wOBA, 33% strikeout rate, 8.3% walk rate, 44.1% GB rate, 35.2% FB rate, and a 30.2% hard-hit rate through 84.0 combined innings with runners in scoring positon. Additionally, he’s also recorded a 65.3% first-pitch strike rate during that timeframe.

In comparison, deGrom has created a 3.00 FIP, 4.12 xFIP, 1.13 WHIP, .231 OPP AVG, .286 wOBA, 27.3% strikeout rate, 6.8% walk rate, 37.9% GB rate, 44.8% FB rate, along with a 37.9% hard-hit rate over 10 2/3 innings pitched with runners in scoring position this season. As for his first-pitch strike rate, he’s seen it drop down to 58.5%, which isn’t alarming but it’s still not as high as it’s been in recent seasons.

For a pitcher of deGrom’s standards, he certainly can’t be pleased with his performance during run-scoring situations, as he’d likely be leading the NL Cy Young conversation if not for these average results. Still, there’s no denying this was another dominating season for No. 48 and he would’ve likely earned his fourth trip to the All-Star Game if it wasn’t canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic.

With two guaranteed seasons and two options (one player and one club) left on his current contract, deGrom’s tenure in Queens is far from over and it seems like he’ll be able to maintain his dominance on the mound into his mid-30s or even later. Needing to take advantage of his All-Star form, the Mets must surround him with enough talent this offseason that he can actually help them sustain a long playoff run in 2021 and not finish short once again.

The post Jacob deGrom Somehow Keeps Getting Better appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

The New York Mets were defeated by the Tampa Bay Rays by a score of 2-1 (Box Score).

After lasting just two innings in his previous start due to hamstring spasms, NL Cy Young candidate Jacob deGrom returned to the mound for the Amazins’ and was impressive.

DeGrom had a much better outing going seven innings while allowing two-runs, on four hits, matching his career high with 14 strikeouts.

For the third consecutive game, the Mets had a starter strikeout at least 10 hitters for the first time in franchise history. DeGrom joined franchise greats Tom Seaver and Dwight Gooden as the only pitchers in Mets history to record multiple starts with 14 strikeouts in a season.

Mets pitchers with multiple 14-strikeout games in a season:

2020 Jacob deGrom
1985 Dwight Gooden
1984 Dwight Gooden (3)
1974 Tom Seaver
1971 Tom Seaver
1970 Tom Seaver

— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) September 22, 2020

Unfortunately, his offense failed him.

The Rays went with the opener method using six relief pitchers, who combined to allow four hits, on one-run as they shut down the Mets’ bats.

With six games left to go, the Mets fell to 24-30 on the season and 3.5 back of the second wild card spot.

Pitching

DeGrom got off to a fast start striking out the side in an easy top of the first.

In the top of the second, deGrom issued a rare leadoff walk and surrendered a double to Joey Wendle to setup second-and-third with no-outs.

This led to a sac-fly by Met killer Manuel Margot to plate the game’s first run. deGrom came back to strikeout Kevin Kiermaier, but J.D. Davis dropped a throw from Wilson Ramos, which would’ve been an inning ending strike ‘em out, ‘em out.

DeGrom then walked Brett Phillips but struck out Zunino to finally get out of a 28-pitch inning.

The right-hander had a much better showing in the third, striking out the side for the second time in three innings.

In the top of the fourth, Nate Lowe led off with a home run to extend the Rays’ lead to 2-0. DeGrom then allowed a single to Wendle, who was later caught stealing by Ramos for the inning’s first-out.

A fly-out from Margot, and a strikeout of Kiermaier got him out of the inning, but the Rays’ added a run to their lead on the Lowe homer.

Dominic Smith made a beautiful diving stop to get Phillips to start the top of the fifth. deGrom retired the next two hitters, while picking up his 10^th strikeout of the night.

For the third consecutive game, the Mets’ had a starting pitcher strikeout at least 10 batters for the first time in franchise history.

Brandon Lowe led off the top of the sixth with a leadoff double. Following a strikeout, a passed ball by Ramos allowed Lowe to advance to third with one-out. deGrom picked up his 12^th strikeout of the game before getting Wendle to groundout to get out of the inning unscathed.

 DeGrom came back out to pitch a scoreless seventh picking up two strikeouts to match his career high at 14 to end his outing.

Miguel Castro came on to pitch the eighth inning and allowed a one-out single and a stolen base. After striking out the next batter he faced, Castro issued a walk to setup first-and-second with two-outs for Lowe. Luckily, he fought back to strikeout Lowe keeping the game within a run.

Edwin Diaz entered in the top of the ninth with his team down 2-1 and worked around a two-out walk for a scoreless inning.

Offense

The Mets were without their best hitter in Michael Conforto on Monday night who is day-to-day with hamstring tightness.

Right-hander Pete Fairbanks was the first man up in the Rays’ opener model and issued a leadoff walk to Brandon Nimmo to start his night. After Fairbanks retired the next two batters, catcher Mike Zunino cut down Nimmo trying to steal second to end the inning.

With the Mets trailing 1-0, Fairbanks set down the first two hitters in order before Kevin Cash went to his bullpen for side-arm thrower Ryan Thompson.

Thompson struck out Pete Alonso on five pitches to cap off a 1-2-3 inning.

Staying on for the bottom of the third, Thompson set down the first two batters he faced, but allowed a single to Ramos. As a result, Cash brought in lefty Josh Fleming, who finished off another scoreless inning.

Swinging at the first pitch of the bottom of the fourth, Jeff McNeil led off with a single off Fleming. But the Mets left him stranded as they were unable to scratch across another base runner.

In the bottom of the fifth, Fleming issued a two-out walk to Guillermo Heredia and a single to Ramos (his second of the night) to setup first-and-second for Nimmo.

Fleming hit Nimmo to load the bases for McNeil, who came through with an infield single to put the Mets on the board with their first and only run of the game.

The struggling Davis came to the plate with a chance to tie it or give his team the lead, but he lined out to right to end the threat.

Diego Castillo came on to replace Fleming with two-outs and nobody on in the bottom of the sixth. Castillo threw one pitch and induced a groundout of Alonso to end the inning.

Left-hander Ryan Sherriff pitched the eighth inning and issued a two-out walk to Davis. This brought Smith to the plate, who flied out to left to end the threat.

Coming to bat in the bottom of the ninth trailing by a run, Nick Anderson got into an 11-pitch battle with Robinson Cano, who flied out to deep center for the first out.

Anderson struck out Alonso and got Gimenez to pop-out to lockdown the save for the Rays, who improved their magic number to one game to clinch the AL East.

On Deck

Seth Lugo (2-3, 4.34 ERA) will try to bounce back after a rough start in Philadelphia as he faces off against former AL Cy Young winner Blake Snell (4-1, 3.05 ERA) in the second game of this series.

First pitch is set to be delivered at 7:10 pm EST. and the game can be seen on SNY and Fox Sports Sun.

The post Mets Waste Strong Outing from DeGrom, Fall 2-1 to Rays appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

While the Mets season is going down the drain quickly, they’ve had several great individual performances in 2020 and the least surprising one is the dominance of Jacob deGrom.

With under two weeks left in the season, he looks like the favorite to win his third straight National League Cy Young award.

Jacob deGrom

The reigning NL Cy Young now leads the NL in ERA (1.67) and K% (37.8). He’s second with his 2.3 fWAR, 1.96 FIP, 0.87 WHIP, 13.17 K/9, and tied for second with 79 strikeouts.

The Mets have 12 games left on the season and deGrom is starting on Wednesday night against the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. DeGrom is then lined up to pitch on regular rest Sept. 21 against the Rays and Sept. 26 against the Nationals.

DeGrom has a 1.13 ERA over his last five starts and hasn’t

Yu Darvish

The veteran right-hander looked like the favorite before his last two outings, starting with a 1.44 ERA against Cincinnati on Sept. 9. But two straight starts of three earned runs allowed (something deGrom hasn’t done at all in 2020) has pushed his ERA up to 2.00. In a short season, two non-elite starts could be enough to lose the Cy Young.

Darvish ranks fifth in the NL with that 2.00 ERA, his 2.5 fWAR leads the NL, and his 0.88 WHIP is third behind deGrom and Trevor Bauer. He ranks sixth in K% (33.6), fifth in HR/9 (0.57), and third in FIP (2.26). He is tied for first with his seven wins, but recent voting suggests that likely won’t come into play.

Darvish started on Tuesday night and the Cubs have 11 games left on their schedule.

Trevor Bauer

Bauer is locked in right now with only one earned run allowed over his last two starts (14 innings) and has struck out 22 (compared to only two walks) in that span.

The right-hander leads the NL with his 0.81 WHIP, is second in ERA at 1.71, and his 2.1 fWAR ranks him fourth behind the previous noted hopefuls and Brewers’ starter Corbin Burnes. He also has two complete game shutouts this year, the rest of the NL has four combined.

It looks like Bauer’s next start could be on Saturday against the White Sox.

Corbin Burnes

The major league leader for qualified starters in FIP (1.96) and H/9 (4.8) is, yup you guessed it, Brewers’ right-hander Corbin Burnes. He also leads the NL with his 13.33 K/9 and ranks third with his 2.2 fWAR. His 1.98 ERA is tied for third in the league.

Burnes has made three relief appearances this year in addition to seven starts, he’s currently at 50 innings which would put him on the lower end for Cy Young hopefuls. He also started recently on Monday, meaning he likely only has two starts left.

One remarkable stat from Burnes is that he’s allowed only one home run in 50 innings this season, even crazier when you see he allowed 17 in 49 innings last year.

Others to Watch

Max Fried was a potential front-runner for awhile, but hasn’t pitched since Sept. 5. His 2.9 bWAR still leads the NL, though he has pitched only 50 innings. He hasn’t allowed a home run all season.

Zack Wheeler is another that has been seen his case slowed by injury, a freak fingernail break paused his season on Sept. 9. He is scheduled to start on Wednesday against the Mets. His 2.5 bWAR ranks third in the NL and his 1.59 BB/9 is second.

Padres’ right-hander Dinelson Lamet has allowed only one earned run over his last two starts (14 2/3 innings) and has struck out 24 in that span. He’s lowered his season ERA to 2.11 and his WHIP to 0.89.

Very quietly, Aaron Nola is ranked second in the NL with his 2.6 bWAR and seventh with his 2.40 ERA.

The post NL Cy Young Update: DeGrom’s Award to Lose appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

In Wednesday night’s outing against the Miami Marlins, Jacob deGrom returned to the mound after missing one start to neck stiffness and he was back to his old self.

Starting the night, deGrom took a second to get in the rhythm with Jesus Aguilar reaching first on a fielding error from J.D. Davis and Corey Dickerson singling. 

Yet even with two men on base, deGrom did what he does best and worked his way out of that jam. With Matt Joyce striking out swinging on an impressive 99.4 MPH fastball, deGrom then caught Brian Anderson with a tricky slider successfully retiring the side. 

The two-time reigning NL Cy Young winner allowed one single in the second and third, but didn’t allow another hit until the sixth as Matt Joyce hit a single as well.

DeGrom’s final line: 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, BB, 7 K, 91 pitches/67 strikes

Unfortunately for deGrom, the bullpen blew the 2-0 lead they were handed and he received another no-decision. Thanks to the ninth inning heroics of Michael Conforto, the Mets pulled away with their third straight win over the Marlins, 5-3.

The scoreless outing lowered deGrom’s ERA for the season down to 1.93 as he looks to secure a third straight Cy Young.

DeGrom explained that he, “Felt pretty good. Not pitching in 10 days, little rusty….Got tired quicker than I would have liked.”

He went on to elaborate that his “arm felt like it was dragging some” but he was “still able to locate, so (he) was able to make an adjustment.”

Though he did not allow any runs this outing, he feels that his discomfort was due to not pitching for ten days. Showing that even when deGrom has off days, he’s still elite. 

n 176 career starts, Jacob deGrom has allowed one or no runs 82 times. He hasn’t lost a game in his last 12 road starts, joining Doc Gooden (1987-1988) and Ron Darling (1985-1986) as the only Mets pitchers to have such a streak.

With these numbers, there is a solid chance the Mets ace could win his third consecutive Cy Young award which would make him one of three pitchers in MLB history to do so. 

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“Nobody likes to hear it, because it is dull, but the reason you win or lose is darn near always the same–pitching.” –Earl Weaver

Even if the above quote didn’t include his patented ‘three-run homer’ in addition to his recipe for success, the point is as well taken as it is obvious — a teams’ pitching is what makes or breaks a season.

Perhaps no team in the majors has seen its fortunes rise and fall based on its starting pitching more than the New York Mets — an organization well-known for it’s developing, trading for, and signing top-flight pitchers.

Scarcely seven years after their inception in 1962, the Mets had a Cy Young winner. Mets starters have garnered that esteemed award seven times.

Even before that, they had their first of four Rookies of the Year who were pitchers. The All-Star game has had a Met pitcher in exactly half the 58 seasons the Mets have played, far and away the most frequent position represented.

The Mets even had an ERA champion in 1978 — Craig Swan, who led the NL with a 2.43 ERA.

He goes largely unnoticed, however, due to the accomplishments of others and the frequency at which Mets pitchers have dominated in earned run average over the years.

While the Mets have only had one batter in franchise history with an OPS over 1.000 (Mike Piazza in 2000), they have had a cadre of award-winning pitchers who have become synonymous with the name Mets.

Some include:

Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman and Jon Matlack (and even Nolan Ryan for awhile) in the late ‘60s and ‘70s, to Dwight Gooden, Ron Darling, Sid Fernandez, and David Cone in the ‘80s.

The brief dominance of Al Leiter in the late ’90s, then on to the deGrom/Harvey/Syndergaard group of recent years — this franchise has had more than its share of golden arms during its relatively brief 58-year history.

There have been others that have had great individual years (Pedro Martinez or Johan Santana come to mind), some of which will be cited in the honorable mentions at the end.

So now we are tasked with the unenviable, but certainly privileged duty to name the five best seasons a Mets pitcher has ever had.

Some of the campaigns listed are among the very best seasons a big-league pitcher has ever had. First, some bookkeeping: there are other ‘five or ten best lists’ of Mets pitching campaigns that exclude the greatest Met, Tom Seaver.

While acknowledging his greatness, the feeling was that any list would simply be an ode to the magnificence of the man they call ‘the Franchise’ and give little respect to other pitchers in Mets history.

This list — includes Seaver. It is inconceivable to write about Mets pitching without including the greatest of them all. And yes, three of the five best seasons belong to Tom Terrific.

Also, the make-up of the five seasons is largely based on statistics, but not solely. You can’t put a stat on the importance Seaver had on the 1969 Mets, both on the field and off — leading to the most unlikely of World Championships.

Yet, the ’69 season is only Seaver’s fourth best in ERA and WAR. Yet, it lands in the two spot here. Let the debate begin.

5.  Tom Seaver—1973

“I really didn’t think I’d win it. I was really surprised,” Seaver told United Press International.

“I thought it would be between (Ron) Bryant and (Mike) Marshall, because of the 19 wins and I figured I hadn’t done enough. But a lot of people remembered what I had done earlier in the season.”

In 1973, Seaver won the second of his Cy Young Awards in somewhat of a surprise, even to him. It was the first time a Cy Young had been given to a pitcher with less than 20 wins.

Seaver took home the NL Cy Young following a 19-10 campaign that saw him lead the National League in earned-run average (2.08), FIP (2.57), complete games (18) and strikeouts (251).

His 10.6 bWAR was the highest single season mark in his career.

Seaver was 15-6 with a 1.78 ERA on August 15, but went 4-4 down the stretch as his workload – which reached 290.0 innings that year – began to take its toll.

Still, Seaver made four starts combined in the NLCS and World Series that year, striking out 35 batters in 31.2 innings and leading the Mets to within one game of the title.

“I’m very, very happy about winning the award because of the name that’s on it and what it means: The best pitcher in the National League,” Seaver said.

“Sure I’m disappointed I wasn’t effective down the stretch. But I thought I pitched exceptionally well up until the last few weeks of the season when the amount of work and fatigue caught up with me.”

“In fact, I felt that I pitched better than ever before in my career. But I still get to the point where I think I can do more than I can.”

In a time where wins were considered king, it was nice to see the writers recognize Seaver for the competitor he was. He bucked the trend in 1973, and deservedly took home the hardware as the best pitcher in the NL.

4.  Tom Seaver—1971

Seaver’s best statistical season was, oddly, in a year he did not win a Cy Young, but finished second.

The Mets were not a particularly good team in 1971, going 83-79 and finishing 14 games behind the division champs — the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Seaver certainly did his part going 20-10 with 289 strikeouts in 1971 — the most K’s he ever amassed in a single year.

The same is true of the 1.78 ERA and 0.94 WHIP. His 10.2 WAR was topped only once — in 1973 when Seaver posted a 10.6 WAR.

The season included 13 double-digit strikeout performances by Seaver, twice fanning a season-high 14. He completed 21 games and had four shutouts.

However, Seaver ultimately finished second in Cy Young voting to Ferguson Jenkins of the Chicago Cubs, who had 24 wins with just 37 walks in 39 starts and 325 innings pitched.

On the other hand, Jenkins’ ERA that year was 2.77, compared to Seaver’s 1.76. That 1.76 ERA is the third lowest by a starter in Mets history.

With today’s emphasis on sabermetrics helping look past just the ‘wins’ statistic, Seaver might have won the Cy Young. We will never know, even though some debate the point to this day.

What is not debatable is the excellence of Tom Terrific’s 1971 campaign and his incredible near 300-strike out season.

3.  Jacob deGrom—2018

Author of one of the greatest mound performances in MLB history, Jacob deGrom comes in at number three on the list — and if it weren’t for a special once in a millennial year in 1969 — would be number two.

For most franchises, he’d be number one by a large margin — his 2018 season was that dominant.

First the numbers: deGrom went 10-9 with a league leading 1.70 ERA (1.98 FIP, which also led the league), 217 IP,  269 strikeouts, a .912 WHIP, and a 218 ERA+ — the 20th best ERA+ of all time.

He became only the third pitcher since 1908 to strike out over 200, have an ERA of below 2.00, and walk fewer than 50 batters.

DeGrom finished the year with 32 games started. Since lowering the mound for the 1969 season, only two pitchers have made at least 30 starts, or pitched at least 210 innings, with an ERA as low as deGrom’s.

He ended the season on a run of 29 straight starts allowing three runs or fewer. That’s the longest single-season streak in MLB history, tied with Jake Arrieta for the longest streak overall (doing so from ’15-’16).

Further — deGrom’s last 24 starts were all quality-starts, which is the longest single-season streak in MLB history and third longest overall.

Of course, part of deGrom’s story this season was his egregious lack of run support. Of his MLB-high 13 starts in which he pitched at least seven innings and allowed no more than one run — he was not credited with a win in eight of them.

That doubled the total of any other MLB pitcher, and tied for the most by any pitcher in a season since at least 1908, with Roger Craig of the ’63 Mets.

If the Mets hit just to their season’s average, deGrom would have won well over 20 games.

There’s much more to the 2018 deGrom season, but suffice it to say it wasn’t bad for a player who made his MLB debut at 25, recovered from Tommy John surgery while in the minors, and was expected to be only the third best pitcher in the Matt Harvey/Noah Syndergaard/Jacob deGrom triad of pitchers.

As of the summer of 2020, deGrom is a two-time Cy Young winner, three-time All-Star and Rookie of the Year winner in 2014.

He holds the major league record with 30 straight starts allowing three-runs or fewer.

On a team that has had names like Seaver, Gooden, Santana, Matinez, Koosman, Cone and so many others — Jacob deGrom’s 2018 season is right there as the finest ever and more than worthy to be included on this exclusive list.

2.  Tom Seaver—1969

Depending on how one measures the quality of a pitcher’s season, Tom Seaver’s 1969 campaign can rank anywhere on this list or not even be on it.

After all, there were four other seasons where Seaver pitched to a better ERA and WAR than in 1969. Yet, he lands in the runner-up spot as the best season a Mets pitcher has ever had.

It is the year Seaver is defined by, culminating in a glorious championship many regard as the highlight moment of the Mets franchise.

The measurable stats were excellent for Seaver — going 25-7 with a 2.21ERA, 208 Ks in 273.1 IP and a 1.039 WHIP.

The 25 wins led the NL and is still a Mets franchise record.

He won his first of three Cy Young awards, made his third of a remarkable 12 All-Star Games appearances, and was a close second to Willie McCovey in MVP voting in ’69.

At year’s end, Seaver was presented with the Hicock Belt as the top professional athlete of the year and won Sports Illustrated magazine’s “Sportsman of the Year” award.

As impressive as his stats were, it was the unmeasurable qualities that lifted Tom Terrific and ultimately his team. During the regular season,  Seaver had a streak of 13 wins in 14 starts from April 30 until July 9.

Then, he won his last ten starts pitching to a spectacular 1.34 ERA down the stretch. He gutted out an NLCS win against the Atlanta Braves before losing game 1 of the World Series.

Undeterred, Seaver took the ball in game four and pitched a 10-inning complete-game win to give the Mets a solid 3-1 series lead.

The point is that Tom Seaver showed qualities not found in a box score or a web page. He put the team on his back and willed them to win — and they did.

Only special athletes can do that in any sport. His drive, tenaciousness, and heart won over a city that still loves him dearly today.

Plain and simple, without Seaver — there aren’t any “Miracle Mets”. That more than any definable statistic is the reason his 1969 season is his very best.

1.  Dwight Gooden—1985

Dwight Gooden’s 1985 season is called by most pundits one of the top seasons of all time by a major league pitcher.

At just 20 years of age and in only his second year with the Mets, Gooden set single-season standards that may never be broken.

“Doc” or “Dr. K” as he was known went 24-4 in 1985 and pitched to a 1.53 ERA. He struck out 268 batters in 273.1 IP and walked only 60.

He had 18 complete games and five shut-outs. His WHIP was 0.965 and his ERA+, at 229 — is the 12th highest ERA+ in history.

What really cements this tremendous season was his insane 12.2 WAR, the highest such mark in the last 100 years.

Gooden won the pitching Triple Crown in 1985, leading the league in wins, strikeouts, and ERA. He was also first in FIP (2.13) and complete games.

His 1.53 ERA was the second lowest in the live-ball era.

From August 31 through September 16, Gooden threw 31 consecutive scoreless innings over four games, and through October 2 –threw 49 consecutive innings over seven games without allowing an earned run.

Dwight Gooden won the Cy Young Award and Pitcher of the Year in 1985, the youngest player to win either. He also made the second of his four All-Star appearances in 1985.

To further gauge Goodens’ dominance over about a year and a half period: in 50 starts from August 11, 1984, to May 6, 1986, Gooden posted a record of 37–5 with a 1.38 ERA — with 412 strikeouts and 90 walks in 406 innings. Perhaps the finest stretch a pitcher has ever had in the history of the game.

Truly a young master, his career going forward would be marked by bumps in the road known by all.

But this isn’t about bumps, it’s about brilliance and for one year, Dwight Gooden was among the most brilliant at his craft that there ever was.

He tops a rarefied list filled with legendary players to rightfully earn the title as having the best season a Mets starting pitcher has ever had.

Honorable Mentions

Another baker’s dozen of fine pitchers not mentioned above that could have easily made the top five list on other teams, but were just short with the Mets:

Jerry Koosman—1969

Jon Matlack—1974

Craig Swan—1978

David Cone—1988

Frank Viola—1990

Sid Fernandez—1992

Bret Saberhagen—1994

Al Leiter—1998

Pedro Martinez—2005

Johan Santana—2008

R.A. Dickey—2012

Matt Harvey—2013

Noah Syndergaard—2016

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