Joe DiMaggio to this day holds the single greatest streak a hitter can hold – 56 straight games with a hit. The player in the modern day era or the last closest year was 2005-06 when Jimmy Rollins of the Philadelphia Phillies went 36 games with a hit in each. It’s a streak unlikely to be broken. The player to come closest to it was the hit king himself, Pete Rose back in 1978 when he had a 44-game hit streak.
On Wednesday, New York Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom solidified his candidacy for Cy Young with a dominate performance one of which we’ve seen all season long with the blemish of just one game in which he allowed four runs. A few statistics ESPN’s Buster Olney shares via Twitter was Jacob deGrom made 32 starts this season.
He allowed 0 runs in 8 starts.
He allowed 1 run in 10 starts.
He allowed 2 runs in 5 starts.
He allowed 3 runs in 8 starts.
He allowed 4 runs in 1 start.
He never allowed more than four runs in any start.
More of the incredible numbers to share is that deGrom has given up no more than three runs in 29 straight starts dating from April 16 – September 26. He also extends another remarkable streak of 23 straight quality starts. A quality start in case you may not know is where a pitcher completes at least six innings giving up no more than three earned runs. He’s done it for 23 straight times.
So it makes you wonder, does the Jacob deGrom streak serve as the pitchers version of Joe DiMaggio? You certainly make the case. Only six pitchers since 1933 have thrown at least 215 innings with an ERA of 1.70 or better. deGrom also holds the higher number of strikeouts (269) within that statistical data. With all this data there is indeed no question that deGrom is in fact the pitchers version of Joe D and the magical streak.
We have seen a high talent of pitchers over the last ten to twenty years but nothing of this caliber. deGrom is the best pitcher on the planet and on a team that if he were to have gotten the proper run support, would have historical numbers. However, when it comes to voting, we don’t go on what could have been but in deGrom’s case, it’s scary good to think about what could have been if he had the support. There should be no question or argument against to compare him to DiMaggio when it comes to a streak like this and there is certainly no reason why he shouldn’t be unanimously voted the Cy Young winner of the National League.