Mets deGrom Wins Back to Back Cy Young Awards

Robbins Nest

By Lenn Robbins

What is with it with the Mets and these one-voter outliers?!

Mets ace Jacob deGrom made history Wednesday night, becoming the first Met pitcher to win back-to-back Cy Young awards, just the seventh in NL history to go back-to-back and the 12^th overall to accomplish that remarkable feat.

But it wasn’t unanimous.

deGrom got the first-place vote on 29 of 30 ballots. Dodgers left Hyun-Jin Ryu got the lone remaining first-place vote and finished second.

“Words can’t express it,’’ deGrom said on MLB Network. “I said it was a dream to win one, but to win back-to-back, honestly, I’m kind of speechless right now.’’

Which might go for a lot of Mets fans.

Rye (14-5) had a better ERA (2.32) than deGrom (2.43) who went 11-8. But deGrom had more strikeouts (255) than Rye (163) and Mets ace was virtually untouchable in the second half of the season.

After giving up seven runs on nine hits in five innings of a loss to the lowly Marlins, deGrom’s numbers were 3-5 with a 3.98 ERA. This a far cry from his 2018 numbers of 10-9 with a ridiculous 1.70 ERA.

“I feel like I was trying to better what I did in 2018,” deGrom told reporters. “I think that was something I struggled with to start this year, was kind of dwelling on what happened last year. Kind of not focusing on the task ahead as much as I probably should have.”

deGrom regained his focus and posted a 1.89 ERA the rest of the season. Yet it was the same case last season, when deGrom beat out Max Scherzer. De  Grom was not a unanimous winner. He got the first place vote on 29-of-30 ballots.

If this sounds familiar it should. Earlier this week Mets slugger Pete Alonso won the NL Rookie of the Year, getting the first-place nod of 29-of-30 voters. Alonso, who wore black 100-% baseball cap signaling his belief that he should be the unanimous winner.

Justin Verlander won Cy Young in the American League. He and deGrom join Mets legend as the only three pitchers to have won Rookie of the Year and multiple Cy Young awards.

 “This year, having that little rough patch, this game will humble you quick,’’ deGrom said. “Last year, I didn’t really seem to have any

. It was kind of smooth sailing all year. But this year, to recover from that little rough patch and figure out a way to get it done and go out there and fix some mechanical things, was good.”

Just not unanimous good.