NEW YORK — Jacob deGrom jogged from the visitor’s dugout to the warning track about 40 minutes before first pitch on Friday — and nobody seemed to notice him. Fans were either standing in line to get into the stadium, just getting to their seats, or walking the concourse in search of refreshments.
DeGrom, meanwhile, was going through it. Returning to Citi Field for the first time as a Texas Ranger had been on his mind since the 2025 schedule was released. He wanted a chance to pitch at the place where it all started — on the same mound where he made his major-league debut. When the day finally came, Rangers manager Bruce Bochy observed how calm deGrom seemed.
But he did always have an excellent poker face.
“I wanted to throw up all day,” deGrom said after the game. “Honestly, it felt like I was making my debut. I was really nervous, obviously. I haven’t been back here. It was a cool experience.”
Not long after deGrom started playing catch, the Mets made sure everyone knew a franchise favorite was back in the building.
(Photo by Ishika Samant/Getty Images)
A tribute video featuring deGrom’s top performances and treasured memories from his nine years as a Met played on the Citi Field jumbotron. DeGrom, busy getting loose in the outfield, occasionally looked up to watch. He started to get emotional, so he forced himself to look away. Once the video was over, deGrom’s longtime warmup song, “Simple Man” by Lynyrd Skynyrd, blared through the stadium speakers. DeGrom smiled, tipped his cap, and went back to work.
“That was really cool,” deGrom, grinning, said of the video. “When they played the video, I looked at it for a second, and then I had to look down, gather myself and continue playing catch to get ready for the game. But you know, once first pitch happened, it was, all right, here we go, we got to try to get some outs.
“This is where it all started. And then coming back here, I thought it was going to be a very special day. I’m thankful to the Mets for playing that. These fans were great to me tonight. They were great to me when I was here. I always enjoyed taking the mound in front of this crowd. Tonight was just as special. That was a really nice thing they did.”
A couple of hours before that, Mets owner Steve Cohen said he was looking forward to seeing deGrom return to Citi Field for the first time. Cohen wanted deGrom to pitch well, but not that well. He did, after all, want to pull out a win — an increasingly abstract concept for an inconsistent Mets team that has produced one of the worst records in baseball since June.
The task of winning became that much more daunting when Mets rookie starter Jonah Tong got pantsed by the Rangers in the first inning. The 22-year-old right-hander allowed six runs on four hits and three walks. Tong recorded just two outs before getting pulled from his third-career start. The Mets’ nosedive reached a familiar low after they lost, 8-3, to the Rangers.
The Amazins have lost seven straight games for the third time this season. After being the first National League team to reach 40 wins, they are in significant danger of losing their wild-card spot and disqualifying for the playoffs. The Rangers, on the other hand, have won five straight games to get back into the race. They are 1.5 games back of the final American League wild-card spot.
Despite all of that, New York’s starting pitcher of the future was no match for the homegrown ace of its past.
DeGrom was awarded a 6-0 lead before he even stepped onto the mound, and the Mets bullpen had to figure out a way to cover the next 25 outs. Half a dozen runs on the board was more than enough support for deGrom, who held his former team to three earned runs and no walks over seven strong innings. After a sticky third inning, in which Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez took him deep for the 23rd home run he’s allowed this year, deGrom looked like he turned back the clock. The 37-year-old veteran retired 15 consecutive batters to complete his outing, earning his 12th win of the year.
“Every time I took this mound for the Mets, I felt like I left it all out there,” deGrom said. “There were obviously some times where I got injured, but you can’t really control that. But when I was on that mound, I felt like I left it all out on the field.”
He did it again under the Friday night lights. The 41,040 fans in attendance had to spend the next eight innings wondering how different things could have been in an alternate reality where deGrom remained a Met.
Countless Mets fans share the sentiment that deGrom is the best pitcher they have ever seen. Like Mets’ Hall of Fame legend Tom Seaver, deGrom’s Amazins career is larger than the numbers on the page. Around here, deGrom is an icon.
“Honestly, the mound felt the exact same,” deGrom said after pitching seven innings on Friday. “It was obviously good memories.”
After an illustrious run in orange and blue threads that included winning two Cy Young awards, the 2014 Rookie of the Year, four All-Star appearances and an ERA title, deGrom walked away from the Mets in his 2022 free agency when the Rangers made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. He signed a lucrative five-year, $185 million contract that, given deGrom’s age and injury history, was viewed as an overpay for a Rangers club that was desperate to contend for the playoffs. Cohen’s Mets did not match Texas’ offer.
Not even one month into his tenure as a Ranger, deGrom was in tears. Nearly 35 years old, deGrom learned that his right elbow ligament was damaged, and that he would have to undergo a second career Tommy John surgery. The Rangers triumphed without their new ace, improbably winning the 2023 World Series and becoming champions for the first time in their franchise’s history. But it was anybody’s guess what kind of pitcher deGrom would be on the other side of his surgery.
This is deGrom’s first full season since that second Tommy John surgery, and he has once again put on a masterclass in pitching, albeit with different tricks. Rather than shoving triple-digit fastballs in the strike zone, deGrom has peeled back his velocity in an effort to stay healthy. The result is fewer strikeouts (he whiffed just two batters on Friday at Citi Field) and a higher home-run rate. Still, deGrom earned his fifth-career All-Star nod this year. He has a 2.82 ERA (fourth-best in A.L.) and a 0.92 WHIP (2nd) after 28 starts and 162.2 innings pitched this season. That’s as elite as it gets.
“Watching film and some of his last outings, we’re looking at the guy that you guys saw here for a long time,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said before the game. “Electric stuff, and his ability to command the baseball … it’s a tough matchup.”
As long as he stays healthy, the Mets will have to figure out a better game plan against the veteran right-hander for what he hopes is the next handful of years. DeGrom has said he wants to pitch into his 40s, and those who know him best see nothing that would stop him from achieving it. If he can continue pitching this effectively for the next 3–4 years, there is a legitimate argument for deGrom to be voted into the Hall of Fame. Already, there are those who want deGrom’s No. 48 hanging up in the rafters at Citi Field.
But deGrom isn’t thinking about any of that. He is, after all, just a simple man.
“I just try to go out there and pitch,” deGrom said. “Keep it going. My goal is just, keep it going.”
Deesha Thosar covers Major League Baseball as a reporter and columnist for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Deesha grew up on Long Island and now lives in Queens. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.
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