New York Mets: How did Jacob deGrom not make the MVP Finalist short list?

The MLB released the finalists for all of the major awards the other day and New York Mets ace Jacob deGrom is somehow not in contention for NL MVP.

The New York Mets had another terrible season with the only year-long bright spot being the career year of Jacob deGrom.

Following one of the most surprising starts in the MLB, starting 11-1, the Mets collapsed and another season wasted away.

Showing off a fresh haircut in 2018, deGrom, came into the season and dominated almost like we never seen before.

Bare with me while I go through all of DeGrom’s mind-blowing stats. (all per Baseball Reference)

• Third in the majors in WAR at 10.0, behind Mookie Betts and Mike Trout. This is insane for a pitcher
• League Leader in ERA at 1.70. This is one of the best ERAs of all time. May not show this on the list, but all the pitchers from the 1900s were pitching to coal miners.
• Second in the NL in WHIP, only .001 more than Max Scherzer
• Fourth in the league in hits per nine inning
• Seventh in walks allowed per nine inning
• Second in innings pitched
• Fourth in strikeouts
• 29 straight quality starts

Are you starting to get the point?

deGrom was so dominant this season, it was baffling.

No one expected this amazing campaign. This all comes with the Mets giving him less than three runs of support during his starts.

So, I simply do not understand how he isn’t an MVP favorite, let alone a finalist. By definition, he was the most valuable player on any team.

Not mentioned in the stats list, is FIP. This is Fielding Independent Pitching. FanGraphs defines FIP as:

"“FIP is a measurement of a pitcher’s performance that strips out the role of defense, luck, and sequencing, making it a more stable indicator of how a pitcher actually performed over a given period of time than a runs allowed based statistic that would be highly dependent on the quality of defense played behind him”"

deGrom’s FIP was 1.98 was the lowest number ever posted.

deGrom’s numbers, outside of his wins and losses, were neck and neck with Justin Verlander‘s when he won his American League MVP.

At this point, if the voters are still taking wins and losses into account, we need to find a new committee.

I’ve never seen a group of voters miss by this much. This guy was better than Christian Yelich, Javier Baez and Nolan Arenado.

They are all outstanding players, but they were not as valuable to their team as deGrom was to the Mets. Again, those pesky definitions of words getting in the way.

Yelich, the favorite to win I’d assume, had a WAR 2.6 points below deGrom’s insane 10.0. Baez was behind 3.7 points, and Arenado was 4.4 below deGrom.

It makes sense that they play everyday while deGrom does not, but lets flash back to the MVP race of 2011, where Verlander won.

Verlander posted stronger strikeout and innings pitched numbers, but the difference in WAR was miniscule. Verlander and second place finisher, Jacoby Ellsbury were 0.3 points apart. That’s nothing.

I simply do not understand how deGrom was not included on this list. He may not have won, but not putting him in the top three is down right disrespectful.