If the baseball gods have decided Jacob deGrom will be hurt, let it be now rather than later

A week before Opening Day and New York Mets starting pitcher Jacob deGrom is dealing with shoulder soreness. It’s the worst piece of news Mets fans could have received other than Steve Cohen is really Jeff Wilpon in a mask and he’s about to get a lot more involved with the team.

deGrom pitched half of the 2021 season due to injury. He was on pace for what could have been a historic season. Instead, it turned out to be one of those lost campaigns that ended up putting the team into a tailspin.

Hopeful he could return in 2022 fully healthy, those wishes have been temporarily pushed aside in favor of cruelty from the baseball gods. For a positive outlook on things, better now than later on.

If the baseball gods are going to punish the Mets with a Jacob deGrom injury, let it happen now than later

Have the Mets ever began a season with their expected starting five fully healthy? It seems like a criteria for being the Mets. It’s a plague around the game. Starting pitchers get hurt the more they throw throughout the season. They also tend to feel aches and pains early on after a long offseason of not pitching in live games.

Losing deGrom now instead of later on in the year is much easier to accept. We saw firsthand how it can alter a season in 2021. The Mets were dealing with other injuries as well, but it was the loss of deGrom that seemed to really signal the end.

This year, they do have the best insurance policy possible with Max Scherzer. The Mets aren’t missing a beat in the number one spot. They have two true aces. While this doesn’t make everything okay, it at least allows them to remain one of the best starting staffs in Major League Baseball even if the fifth spot was filled by just about anyone.

If we have to deal with a deGrom injury in 2022, let it happen now. Get it out of the way. Let him get fully healthy and then return to the field for the regular season and hopefully postseason in October.

deGrom’s shoulder soreness hasn’t officially ruled him out for Opening Day. He hasn’t been placed on the IL yet either. We’re at the level of “concerned fan” right now. With any mercy from the baseball gods, that’s all it will be.