THE REASONS CY!

Jacob deGrom should be crowned best pitcher in the NL today and here are...

Jacob deGrom is a rarity these days. In a country divided by red and blue, millennials and Baby Boomers, all baseball fans can agree that Jacob deGrom is one of the best pitchers of this generation. The Mets righthander can even bridge the divide in baseball: the old school baseball lifers love him and so do the Next Gen analytics experts.

That’s why deGrom should become the first starting pitcher in baseball history to win the National League Cy Young Award with fewer than 13 wins when the winner is announced on the MLB Network Wednesday night. Even in this age of baseball, deGrom emerges as the best pitcher in the NL this year.

This race comes down to deGrom and Nationals ace Max Scherzer, who is going for his third consecutive and fourth overall Cy Young. Aaron Nola, the Phillies young ace, should finish third in the voting, conducted by members of the Baseball Writers Association of America.

“The definition of the award is to honor the best pitcher of the year,” said Dan Warthen, deGrom’s pitching coach with the Mets for the first four years of his career. “That’s the definition of what Jacob deGrom has done. You look at the relevant statistics, he leads or is among the top in all of them. You look at the way he competes on the mound, no one is better.

“The only way you can argue against him is wins, and anyone who is watching this game knows that isn’t his fault.”

Obviously, deGrom went into battle this season with a bad defense behind him and a lineup that consistently let him down.

Still, having just 10 wins is part of the argument for Scherzer. The 34-year-old righty led baseball in strikeouts (300) and innings pitched (220 2⁄3). He tied for the most wins in the National League with 18, led the NL in strikeouts per nine innings (12.2) and strikeouts per walk (5.88). He was tied with deGrom in WHIP (0.911) and led the league in opponent batting average (.187).

DeGrom led baseball with a 1.70 ERA, joining a group of 16 pitchers to post a sub-2.00 ERA and pitch over 200 innings since the mound was lowered in 1968. He has the second lowest ERA since 1996. Only Zack Greinke’s 1.66 in 2015 is better.

Both put up good numbers, but deGrom’s are better than Scherzer’s if you look deeper.

“The biggest thing is that deGrom provided more value than Scherzer (9.6 WAR vs 8.8 WAR) ...this is a pretty big distance,” one National League analytics expert said. “The biggest difference between the two has been deGrom’s ability to limit power (1.2% HR vs 2.7%). While strikeouts and walks are similar . ... This power is backed by batted ball numbers as deGrom allowed weaker contact and was not squared up at peak power angles.”

DeGrom, who allowed a career-high in home runs (28) in 2017, came into this year looking to limit the damage that hitters could do against him with launch angle and power. He limited hitters to 10 home runs. Scherzer gave up 23.

DeGrom’s FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) was 1.98, much better than Scherzer’s 2.65.

“That shows that Jacob was more dominant in the things he can control like strikeouts, walks and home runs allowed,” the analyst said. “Scherzer got more help from defense or was luckier. To me, that’s a huge difference.”

Finally, deGrom’s ERA+, which factors in ballparks and opponents to standardize the stat, is 216. Only four pitchers have had an ERA+ of 200 or better since 2009. Nola had the second highest ERA+ in the NL this season at 175, 41 points behind deGrom.

“He was just dominant,” said one National League scout who saw deGrom several times this year. “He was hurt by the defense behind him, which was shockingly bad, and I have never seen a lineup so bad in his starts.

“But he was, by far, the best pitcher in the National League.”