Jacob deGrom has an Opening Day streak to keep intact

Jacob deGrom will get his chance to start his fourth Opening Day for the New York Mets in 2022. The first in 2019 was a 2-0 win over the Washington Nationals in D.C. The second was a 1-0 victory in July of 2020 at Citi Field versus the Atlanta Braves.

The first time the Mets even gave up a run in an Opening Day Mets start was last season when the bullpen blew it in the eighth. The Philadelphia Phillies scored five times against them. The 2-0 lead the team had at the team would turn into a 5-3 loss.

deGrom, though, kept up his end of the bargain. He once again pitched a shutout.

Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom has yet to allow a run on Opening Day

March, July, or April—it doesn’t matter. deGrom has not yet surrendered a single run on Opening Day; earned or otherwise.

It all began with 6 shutout innings back in 2019 and 10 strikeouts against the Nationals. He did allow five hits and a walk but he kept them scoreless.

His opponent, Max Scherzer, wasn’t so lucky. Now a Mets teammate of deGrom’s, he took the loss despite allowing only two hits and striking out 12 in 7.2 innings of work. A Robinson Cano home run in the first then a single from him (against reliever Matt Grace) with a runner Scherzer allowed to reach base put the first crooked numbers on his ERA.

After a long delay to the 2020 season, deGrom started again for the Mets in the opener. He’d receive a no-decision in the 1-0 win. A home run from Yoenis Cespedes accounted for the only scoring in the game.

deGrom was a little more masterful in his five innings, allowing a single hit, a walk, and striking out eight. Two Opening Day starts into his career, he had 11 shutout innings.

As if the streak wasn’t impressive enough already, he threw six more shutout frames on Opening Day 2021. The Phillies mustered up three hits and two walks but still struck out seven times. deGrom received another no-decision in the team’s loss.

All combined, deGrom has 17 Opening Day innings and 0 runs allowed. A big goose egg.

We should expect more of the same from him this year and any future Opening Day appearances. deGrom’s opening day mission is to look as in regular-season-mode as he can and have batters question if they should have gotten a few more hacks in during spring training.