Jacob deGrom Has Chance to Achieve Rare Feat

It will come as a surprise to no one that Jacob deGrom is the odds on favorite to win the National League Cy Young award for the third time in the past four seasons. In fact, WynnBet currently has him listed at +400 odds with only Trevor Bauer (+700) seemingly within reach.

What will come as a surprise, is that deGrom is also in the running to pull off something that only 10 pitchers have achieved before, and that’s to win both the Cy Young and the MVP award.

WynnBet currently has deGrom listed third on the odds list to be named National League MVP behind Ronald Acuna Jr (+175) and Fernando Tatis Jr. (+325).

This feat was last achieved by Clayton Kershaw in 2014, when he completed the season with a 21-3 record which included a 1.77 ERA and a 0.857 WHIP. Before that, it was achieved by Justin Verlander with the Detriot Tigers in 2011. That season, Verlander had a 24-5 record with a 2.40 ERA and a 0.92 WHIP.

Previous to 2011, it hadn’t been achieved since Dennis Eckersley won both awards as a closer for the Oakland Athletics in 1992.

deGrom, who is on track to return from injury tomorrow night against the Rockies, has an eye-popping 0.68 ERA and a 0.60 WHIP through his first six starts of the 2021 campaign. All signs indicate he'll return to perfect form after torching the Low-A Palm Beach Cardinals in his rehab start.

While those numbers will be near impossible to sustain throughout an entire season, award voters will be obligated to present deGrom with the duel hardware if he is able to pitch at this level throughout the entire summer.

A 0.68 ERA would break the record for the lowest ERA in a single season, currently held by Tim Keefe in 1880 who finished his season with a 0.857 earned run average.

Despite sporting an ERA below 1, deGrom somehow has just a 3-2 record across his six starts. The Mets rarely give deGrom much run support in his starts, but they’ll hope to turn that around as the season progresses.

It’s hard to imagine the MVP award not going to either Acuna Jr. or Tatis Jr. this season, but if deGrom can set career highs then it’ll be hard to deny the Mets ace.