Can Jacob deGrom Make Texas Rangers History by Snapping This Drought?

The Texas Rangers have a starting rotation that is absolutely stocked with talent, whether that's established by years of MLB dominance or emerging in the form of some of the game's top prospects.

Aces Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi are joined by solid veteran Tyler Mahle in a rotation that, due to injuries, is currently rounded out by massive young talents in Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker.

Of the five, deGrom has by far the best chance to etch his name into franchise and MLB history with a remarkable effort this season.

Writing in The Athletic (subscription required), Tyler Kepner went through all 30 MLB franchises and broke down a notable or odd statistical drought unique to that team.

His entry for the Rangers falls more on the notable side, and it's one that has a real chance to come to an end in 2025.

"Two of the greatest pitchers to never win a Cy Young Award — Bert Blyleven and Nolan Ryan — fired no-hitters for the Rangers," Kepner wrote. "Plenty of Rangers pitchers have won the award elsewhere: Bartolo Colon, Jacob deGrom, R.A. Dickey, Fergie Jenkins, Dallas Keuchel, Corey Kluber, Cliff Lee, Sparky Lyle, Gaylord Perry and Max Scherzer. But in 65 seasons, going back to their beginnings in Washington, this franchise still cannot claim a Cy Young Award winner as its own."

Tarik Skubal of the Detroit Tigers won the award in a walk in 2024, and he enters as the clear-cut favorite to do it again in 2025.

You do not get very far down the list of possible winners at all before you reach deGrom, who is unquestionably the most talented starting pitcher in the sport.

But it's not the talent that's in question for deGrom, it's the health.

Both the player and the team have a plan in place to make sure he stays on the mound this season, and if he does that, he'll contend for the Cy Young. It's really that simple.

We haven't seen much of deGrom in a Rangers uniform due to those health issues, but what he's shown in those appearances is that he is the same pitcher that dominated all those years with the New York Mets.

In nine starts, he has posted a 2.41 ERA with a whopping 59 strikeouts in 41 innings pitched. It's of course a miniscule sample size, but his ERA and strikeouts per nine innings rate are actually better as a Ranger than as a Met.

deGrom is expected to make his season debut on Sunday against the Boston Red Sox.

With the massive caveat that he has to find a way to stay healthy, there is plenty of reason to believe that deGrom can become the first Ranger in franchise history to win the American League Cy Young.

If he does it, he can add it to his trophy case alongside the 2018 and 2019 National League Cy Youngs he won with the Mets.

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