Jacob deGrom wrapped up his 2018 National League Cy Young campaign with another dominating performance on Wednesday night, throwing eight scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts, lowering his ERA to a major league-leading 1.70. That's 0.75 lower than the next-lowest in the NL (Aaron Nola's 2.45) -- the last time a league ERA race finished with that wide a margin between first and second was in Pedro Martinez's ridiculous 2000 season, when his 1.74 ERA was nearly two full runs lower than Roger Clemens's 3.70.
Yes, the Mets didn't win a high percentage of deGrom's starts, but that's because he "enjoyed" the second-worst run support in the majors this season. His ERA in losses and no-decisions was 2.09, a figure that would still lead the league.
But if a pitcher's job is to keep the other team from scoring, and the easiest way for him to do that is to limit the damage done by opposing hitters, then deGrom did that better than anyone this season.
He leads the National League in ERA, opponents' on-base percentage, and opponents' slugging percentage. He's in a virtual tie with Max Scherzer for the league lead in WHIP, and he trails Scherzer by three-hundredths in strikeout-to-walk ratio. And he allowed 10 home runs all season -- Aaron Nola has allowed nine home runs in five starts this month!
deGrom had 18 starts this season allowing one run or fewer, two more than any other National League pitcher. And he allowed three runs or fewer in 29 straight starts to finish the season, the longest single-season streak in MLB history, and tied for the longest ever (Jake Arrieta did it in 29 straight over two seasons).
deGrom has been clutch too. His ERA got lower as the season went along -- 1.84 from March to June, and 1.56 from July to September. And he allowed a lower OPS with runners in scoring position than he did with the bases empty.
Jacob deGrom Opponents' OPS This Season
- Bases empty: .531
- Runners on: .503
- RISP: .404
He allowed a .537 OPS to opposing three- and four-hole hitters, nearly 80 points lower than the next-best National League starter, and he allowed two home runs all season to opponents batting third and fourth in the lineup.
As for his chances at winning the Cy Young award, in some ways there is no precedent for a player like him winning it. His 10 wins would be by far the fewest by a starting pitcher to win the award (Felix Hernandez won 13 games when he won it in 2010, and Fernando Valenzuela won 13 in the strike-shortened 1981 season).
But since the Cy Young award was first handed out in 1956, deGrom is the eighth pitcher to make 30 starts with an ERA below 1.75 -- five of the previous seven won the award. The two who didn't win were:
- Luis Tiant (CLE) in 1968 ... He lost to Denny McLain (DET), who had 31 wins and a 1.96 ERA that season, and pitched 78 more innings than Tiant.
- Zack Greinke (LAD) in 2015 ... He lost to Jake Arrieta (CHC), who had a 1.77 ERA, had 36 more strikeouts than Greinke, and finished the season with an 0.86 ERA in his final 20 starts.
And he finished the season with 9.8 Wins Above Replacement, according to Baseball Reference. Only five pitchers the past 25 years have had a higher WAR in a season, and they all won the Cy Young award that year (Aaron Nola also has 9.8 Wins Above Replacement this season).
