Mets ace Jacob deGrom favored to join Greg Maddux and Randy Johnson in Cy Young history

The statistical numbers for the Cy Young winner in both the American and National League this baseball season are going to look rather unusual decades from now because of the coronavirus-shortened 60-game season – if it even lasts that long. Starting pitchers almost always win the Cy Young and the top starters in MLB probably only get 12 or so starts this year. New York Mets right-hander Jacob deGrom has won the NL Cy Young Award the past two seasons and is a +350 favorite on the moneyline odds at William Hill sportsbook to make it three in a row and join a very exclusive club.

A 60-game regular season is 37 percent of a normal 162-game campaign. Last year, deGrom started very slowly. He was 2-3 with a 4.85 ERA at the end of May and 4-7 with a 3.32 ERA at the end of June – certainly not Cy Young numbers. In the second half of the season, though, deGrom was his usual unhittable self and finished the year with 23.0-inning scoreless streak, the longest in Mets history to end a season.

DeGrom finished 11-8 with a 2.43 ERA in 32 starts, leading the National League in WHIP (0.97), strikeouts (255), opponents' on-base percentage (.257) and Wins Above Replacement (7.3) for a pitcher. Not quite his 2018 numbers, but enough for DeGrom to win his second Cy Young in a row, only the 11th time in MLB history that a pitcher has repeated as the Cy Young Award winner.

Some of the best pitchers in MLB history have won back-to-back Cy Youngs, but only two have won at least three in a row: Greg Maddux for the Cubs and Braves from 1992-95 and lefty Randy Johnson for the Diamondbacks from 1999-2002. Roger Clemens holds the all-time Cy Young record with seven awards, but the best he could do was go back-to-back twice.

The Mets open the season July 24 at home vs. Atlanta, presumably with deGrom on the mound. New York has an Over-Under season win total of 31.5 at William Hill. 

Ariel Cohen's Fantasy baseball projections are extremely high on a first baseman some are overlooking. He's set to hit double-digit home runs during the 60-game 2020 MLB season, but is being picked well outside the top 200 in early Fantasy baseball drafts. You ABSOLUTELY need to see what the ATC system has to say about each player before going on the clock.