National League Cy Young: Jacob deGrom – New York Mets
Another boring pick, but it will the accurate one. That’s not to say that DeGrom won’t have his challengers, the National League is stacked with young talented arms. Jack Flaherty, Walker Buehler, and those two aces in Washington are all pretty good, but none will be able to surpass the Mets right hander in 2020.
Last season, deGrom picked up his second consecutive Cy Young award after being lights out for a very non-supportive New York Mets team (for the second consecutive time…). Win total notwithstanding, he led baseball in pretty much every other conceivable metric. His 7.9 WAR was the highest among pitchers, and his 255 strikeouts led the senior circuit.
Not that he needs much help, but the Mets will bring back a more mature lineup this year, which should help deGrom improve on that win total. Come September, we will be asking ourselves the same question that Joseph Romano of Call to the Pen asked last year. The NL Cy Young will definitely prove to be a heated race, but when the dust settles, DeGrom will join Greg Maddux and Randy Johnson to become just the third pitcher ever to win three consecutive Cy Young awards.