Three-plus weeks into the 2021 Major League Baseball season, it’s fair to say there are plenty of questions about both local teams.
We’ll save that list for another day.
But know this: we are lucky to watch the two best pitchers in baseball every fifth day at the absolute peak of their greatness.
Over the weekend, the brilliance of both Jacob deGrom and Gerrit Cole was on full display, and boy was it fun to watch!
Jacob deGrom has been dominating hitters since his first start at Citi Field back in 2014.
His resume has him in the conversation as one of the greatest Met pitchers to ever put on the uniform.
Tom Seaver will always be the gold standard as far as that honor, but there is a very good chance we are talking about deGrom as the second greatest Met pitcher ever.
deGrom has thrown a lot of gems over the last seven years, but Friday night might have been his very best performance.
He threw a two-hit, complete-game shutout, striking out 15 Washington Nationals batter and retiring 19 straight.
It may sound crazy, but deGrom’s stuff has gotten better over the last few years.
He’s topping 101 mph on the gun, and the off-speed stuff has become even more nasty.
deGrom’s last three years will go down as one of the most dominant individual runs we have seen from a New York athlete in quite some time, and his career is pointed towards a bust in Cooperstown.
He’s the best pitcher in baseball and seems to be getting better and better.
On the other side of town, the Yankees have an ace that is the second best pitcher in the sport. Trust me, there’s no shame in that.
Gerrit Cole was paid over $300 million to deliver at the highest of levels for the Yankees.
He was paid to lead the rotation and to be ace of the staff, to matchup with whoever the opponent threw against the Yankees.
Saturday night was one of those heavyweight pitching performances. Cole matched up with the reigning AL Cy Young winner Shane Bieber. In the battle of aces, Cole outshined Bieber.
He threw seven innings of one-run baseball, striking out 11. Cole’s quest for perfection is a joy to watch every fifth day.
It was pointed out during the broadcast on YES that he is the pitching version of former Yankee Paul O’Neill.
I never really saw the comparison until Saturday, but then all of a sudden it clicked.
Cole’s quest for throwing the perfect pitch every single time, and showing frustration when he doesn’t, certainly equates to the hitting style of one of my all-time favorite Yankees.
The Yankees have a lot of questions this season, but the performance of Gerrit Cole is certainly not on that list. He’s been worth every penny so far in his tenure.
It’s sure nice to know that every fifth day as a New York baseball fan, you’re going to get a chance to watch a dominant hurler.
We get the opportunity to watch Jacob deGrom and Gerrit Cole every fifth day. As my guy Larry David would say, “pretty, pretty, pretty good!”
You can listen to my new podcast “New York, New York” on the Ringer Podcast Network every Sunday, Tuesday & Thursday night on Spotify and Apple.
