Mets wasted another year of excellence from Jacob deGrom

Another excellent regular season from Jacob deGrom goes to waste with the New York Mets missing the playoffs entirely.

Jacob deGrom has made one trip to the postseason since his New York Mets debut in 2014. He was with the club during their amazing run to the 2015 World Series. Only then was he able to have the opportunity to help take down the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs in October.

Back then, our perception of deGrom was different. He was one-half of the long-haired young starters throwing bullets on the mound. Alongside Noah Syndergaard, deGrom and company would lead the Mets to at least one championship. At the very least, we’d see plenty of postseason appearances.

Fast forward to 2020 and deGrom is nearing the end of yet another Cy Young worthy season without much help around him. The team isn’t horrendous, but he is eons ahead of where their record will finish.

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Every time deGrom takes the mound we’re reminded of how special he is. He’s the Tom Seaver of this generation. No matter how well he pitches, it doesn’t make much of a difference in the standings. The Mets are wasting the best years of his career.

This isn’t uncommon in sports. Mike Trout is typically the example people will use. The generational outfielder has played for more than enough bad Los Angeles Angels squads. Even with the benefit of playing every day, his MVP seasons aren’t nearly enough.

The Mets have yet to attempt to truly build around deGrom in his best years. After their 2016 postseason trip, they underwent a slight rebuild and didn’t go after a championship roster in the offseason.

This has been the theme in many winters. In Brodie Van Wagenen’s two offseasons, he has made finishing touch additions, not the ones that can completely overhaul a team’s fortune. He has relied on the team’s homegrown core drafted by previous general managers. There’s nothing wrong with this. However, BVW has missed on adding superstar talent.

There’s no easy way to get to the postseason even when your best player gets to participate each day. The Mets, at no particular fault of any one singular person, have failed deGrom and wasted away the prime of a great pitcher.

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Fortunately, deGrom has a few years left in his arm to get to the playoffs and get a shot at a ring again. Until then, these regular season performances are all he’ll have on his already flashy resume.