Sep 12, 2025; New York City, New York, USA; Texas Rangers starting pitcher Jacob deGrom (48) warms up in the outfield before a game against the New York Mets at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images
QUEENS, NY — There has always been a certain degree of stoicism to Jacob deGrom’s game.
The veteran right-handed ace’s composure on the mound is almost as much of a trademark as his often unhittable stuff. His old teammate Brandon Nimmo even likened him to a bulldog when he’s on the mound — a smile, or any sort of showing of emotion, comes few and far between.
Mets fans saw it up close when the now-37-year-old spent nearly a decade in Queens, developing into one of the franchise’s greatest pitchers, and winning a pair of NL Cy Young Awards, too.
But Friday night hit deGrom different, even before he threw a pitch. This was his first time being back at Citi Field to face his old team since signing a five-year, big-money deal with the Texas Rangers before the 2023 season, and a tribute video the team played on Citi Vision while he was warming up pregame in center field got him.
“When they played the video, I looked at it for a second, and then I had to kind of look down, gather myself, and continue playing catch to get ready for the game… I knew if something was played, I’d probably feel some sort of emotion. I spent nine years here. Everyone was good to me.
“But once the first pitch happened, it was, ‘Alright, here we go. We gotta try to get some outs.’”
What followed was a signature deGrom performance, which heaped more pressure on his free-falling former team in the Rangers’ 8-3 win. He went seven innings, allowing three runs on four hits with two strikeouts and zero walks. Three of those hits came in succession to lead off the third inning — a frame in which he yielded all of his runs — but including the two sacrifice flies that scored New York’s second and third runs, deGrom retired the final 15 batters he faced.
It was like he never left.
“Honestly, the mound felt the exact same, so a lot of good memories,” deGrom said. “Besides the third, they hit some good pitches. I gave up a three-spot and was like, ‘Hey, we got to find a way to stop letting them score runs’… They had a good plan against me… luckily, they were hitting it right at people because there were some hard-hit baseballs.
“A lot of early contact let me go a little bit deeper in the game. We’ve been kind of monitoring innings, pitch count, but a lot of early contact let me go back out there for the seventh.”
It was the first time since June 25 that deGrom went seven innings, and by recording the first out of that final frame of his night, he has now pitched enough innings this season to qualify for the ERA title for the first time since 2020.
With Friday night’s gem, he ranks fourth in the American League with a 2.82 ERA — a triumphant return after injuries seemingly derailed his career even when he was still a member of the Mets.
After winning back-to-back Cy Young Awards in 2018 and 2019, deGrom didn’t start more than 15 games in a single season during his final three campaigns in Queens. While 2020 was shortened by COVID, his historic 2021 season, which featured a 1.08 ERA across 92 innings, was cut short due to forearm issues. A stress reaction in his shoulder in spring training held him out of the 2022 season until August.
Upon his arrival in Texas, he made just six starts with his new club in 2023 before the second Tommy John surgery of his career held him out until late last season, where he was able to make only three starts, but they were important ones.
“He worked hard to get back where he’s at now,” his manager and four-time World Series winner Bruce Bochy said. “It’s a long road having that kind of surgery. He knew it was going to be a while, and he got ready. I thought what was big last year was that he did get back on the mound before we started this season. That was huge.”
“When you find out you’re going to miss some significant time, at my age, there is unknown,” deGrom added. “When it first happened, you’re pretty down, but once it happened, there was only one thing to do, and that was take each day and try to get back… just do my best every day with a goal of pitching back at the major-league level.
“It doesn’t always happen, but you try not to let doubt set in. I’ve been fortunate enough to play this game for quite a while. Every day you get to put this uniform on, I’m thankful for that. We get to play a game for a living, so it’s an awesome experience.”
His 28 starts this season are the most he’s had in six years, and his undimmed dominance, despite being 37, lends a certain confidence that he can fulfill his wish of pitching well into his 40s.
“Why not?” deGrom asked. “Try to keep it going. I enjoy playing this game, and I think when you do miss that significant time [due to injury] later in your career, you really realize how much you do miss it. We’ll see what happens.”
Hopefully, it can provide a satisfying ending for one of this generation’s greatest arms, who could one day see his No. 48 lifted to the top of Citi Field along with the other retired numbers of the Mets.
“That would be a huge honor,” deGrom said. “Every time I took this mound for the Mets, I felt like I left it all out there. Obviously, there were some times when I got injured, but you can’t really control that. So when I was on that mound, I felt like I left it all out there.”
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