Jacob deGrom put together one of the most statistically dominant pitching campaigns in Major League Baseball history during the 2018 season, capturing the National League Cy Young Award while pitching for the New York Mets. Despite finishing the year with a remarkable 1.70 ERA, a 0.91 WHIP, and 269 strikeouts across 217 innings, deGrom managed a deceptively modest 10-9 win-loss record, a statistical anomaly that sparked widespread baseball analytics debates regarding the validity of pitcher wins as a metric of success.
Inside Jacob deGrom’s Historic 2018 Cy Young Campaign with the Mets
During the 2018 Major League Baseball season, right-handed starting pitcher Jacob deGrom delivered a historic performance for the New York Mets, anchoring a rotation at Citi Field in Queens, New York. According to official Major League Baseball statistics, deGrom made 32 starts, allowing just 41 earned runs all season while holding opposing hitters to a microscopic .198 batting average. His 1.70 ERA led the Major Leagues, while his 0.91 walks plus hits per inning pitched (WHIP) underscored his relentless control on the mound. Yet, the Mets’ offensive struggles and bullpen vulnerabilities left deGrom stranded with a .526 winning percentage, capturing the attention of fans and analysts worldwide through viral social media breakdowns and baseball forums.
The stark contrast between deGrom’s individual dominance and his team’s lack of run support became the defining storyline of the National League Cy Young race. Baseball writers and historians frequently noted that deGrom received two runs or fewer of support in 13 of his 32 starts. While conventional metrics like pitcher wins heavily favored pitchers on dominant playoff contenders, advanced sabermetrics validated deGrom’s excellence. He struck out 269 batters while walking only 46, generating a staggering 11.2 strikeouts per nine innings. According to Baseball-Reference, deGrom accumulated 9.6 Wins Above Replacement (WAR) that year, outdistancing Max Scherzer of the Washington Nationals and Aaron Nola of the Philadelphia Phillies in the final voting.
How Run Support Shaped a Peculiar Pitching Narrative
The historical tension of deGrom’s 2018 season rested on the archaic nature of the win-loss record for starting pitchers. Pitching every fifth day in the rigorous environment of the National League East, deGrom routinely turned in quality starts—defined as pitching at least six innings while surrendering three or fewer earned runs—only to watch the Mets bullpen surrender leads or the offense stall against opposing aces. Major League Baseball box scores from that summer routinely highlighted games where deGrom pitched eight shutout innings, only for the Mets to lose in extra innings or secure a narrow victory long after he departed.
This persistent lack of run support prompted extensive discourse across sports media platforms, including viral retrospectives on Instagram and X, formerly Twitter, where fans frequently shared his stat line alongside the rallying cry that wins are a flawed team statistic rather than an indicator of individual pitching prowess. The discussion eventually influenced a broader shift in how voters evaluate Cy Young Award candidates, prioritizing ERA, fielding independent pitching (FIP), and WAR over traditional win totals.
Legacy and Subsequent Milestones in deGrom’s Career
The 2018 campaign served as a launching pad for deGrom, who followed up his historic run by capturing a second consecutive National League Cy Young Award in 2019 with the Mets, posting an 11-8 record and a 2.43 ERA alongside 255 strikeouts. His mastery during this two-year window established him as one of the premier strikeout artists of his generation. After playing for the Mets through the 2022 season, deGrom signed a multi-year free-agent contract with the Texas Rangers prior to the 2023 campaign.
As Major League Baseball prepares for the upcoming 2025 season, deGrom continues his recovery timeline following Tommy John surgery performed in June 2023. According to official updates from the Texas Rangers medical staff, deGrom returned to the major league mound late in the 2024 season and is slated to participate fully in the team’s upcoming spring training workouts in Surprise, Arizona. Observers and fans monitoring his progress look forward to seeing how the veteran right-hander performs as he seeks to add another chapter to his illustrious career.
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