Despite suffering an elbow injury last year, Jacob deGrom was the top pitcher in baseball from 2018-2021 due to multiple actions. His earned running average of 1.94 during that span was significantly lower than anyone else in baseball. He won the National League Cy Young Award in 2018 and 2019 and was third for the award in 2020.
But during that time, the Mets made no postseason trips, fueling a feeling among fans — and within the team — that the best years of deGrom’s career were wasted. This year was the last guaranteed chance to make a playoff run with deGrom, who, despite his avowed love for the Mets, has repeatedly said he will exercise the buyout clause in his contract extension this winter.
Given the chance to play the postseason for the first time in seven years, deGrom saved the Mets’ season for another day. After being knocked out in the best-of-three wildcard series against the San Diego Padres, deGrom delivered six strong innings and the Mets’ offense came to life on Saturday night with a 7-3 win that ended the series finished. He wasn’t his sharpest, but it was enough to force a crucial Game 3.
The Mets’ season — and the Padres’, for that matter — now ends on Sunday. Chris Bassitt, the Mets’ longest-lived starting pitcher during the regular season, will face Joe Musgrove, the All-Star who led the Padres rotation with a 2.93 E.RA.
The price? The Los Angeles Dodgers, baseball’s best team and winner of 111 regular season games, compete in a best-of-five divisional series that begins Tuesday at Dodger Stadium.
To beat the Padres on Saturday, the Mets relied on their cornerstones: shortstop Francisco Lindor, first baseman Pete Alonso, second baseman Jeff McNeil and deGrom. Lindor and Alonso both scored while McNeil, the NL batting champion, opened the game with a two-run double in the seventh inning. The Mets’ bullpen — led by nearer Edwin Díaz, who was called out when it was a one-run game — brought great relief.
But most of the game belonged to deGrom, 34, who hit eight. Injuries have derailed his last two seasons. When he returned from a shoulder injury on Aug. 2, it was his first major league start in 13 months. He helped the Mets through the last two months of the regular season and on Saturday he stood on the sport’s greatest stage, the postseason, for the first time since Game 2 of the 2015 World Series, which the Mets lost to the Kansas City Royals.
At the Padres, deGrom fired. Ten of the 12 pitches he threw in the first inning were 100 mph or more. Padres right fielder Juan Soto fell while swinging at a 101-mile pitch and eventually struck out with a 102-mile fastball, causing the sold-out 42,156 crowd to roar.
The same energy continued in the bottom half of the frame. Lindor gave his team a 1-0 lead with a solo from Padre’s starting pitcher Blake Snell. The next few innings rocked between deGrom and Snell. DeGrom wasn’t as dominant at times throughout the game, but he used strikeouts or induced groundouts to escape jams, allowing his team’s offense to break through.
The Padres equalized in the third inning when Trent Grisham, one of the Padres’ heroes in Game 1, hit a homer. After averaging a .184 average and a .341 slugging percentage during the regular season, Grisham has now sent balls over the fence on back-to-back nights against two of baseball’s best pitchers — Max Scherzer and deGrom.
The Mets pulled 2-1 in the fourth inning when they took advantage of Snell’s ferocity; he went six over three and a third innings. After third baseman Eduardo Escobar and hitter-designate Darin Ruf departed, Mets midfielder Brandon Nimmo’s third hit of the night was a run-scoring single for opposing field.
But the lead didn’t last long. DeGrom allowed the Padres to tie the score at 2 when he passed Grisham and Jurickson Profar snuck a ball fair across the first baseline for a run-scoring single.
The Mets recovered quickly and took back the lead. To start the end of the fifth inning, Alonso slammed the first pitch he saw from reliever Nick Martinez to left field seats for a 3-2 lead. Alonso, who led the Mets with 40 home runs and tied Aaron Judge for the major league lead with 131 runs hit, waved his arms and urged the crowd to make more noise after crossing home plate.
After deGrom left the game, Mets manager Buck called out Showalter Díaz earlier than usual in the seventh inning. But the Mets offense gave him breathing room with a four-run burst. After a single from Lindor and walks from left fielder Mark Canha and Alonso, McNeil drilled his key shot and bent his arms from second base toward his teammates. DeGrom watched from the shelter.
Adam Ottavino took over for Díaz with an out in the eighth and went on to shake some nerves by giving up a full bases walk with two outs in the ninth inning. But Seth Lugo came in and pulled Josh Bell back to end the game with no further damage.
To give deGrom another postseason start and keep playing in October, the Mets need another win on Sunday.