There was not a time this season when Jacob deGrom wasn’t the best pitcher in baseball. His brilliance across 217 innings in the 2018 season was domination from beginning to end.

But just how great was deGrom? How historic was his season? How much better was he then every pitcher? If you find yourself in an argument, just reference the numbers below.

Let’s start with run prevention: deGrom help opponents to one run or less in 18 of his 32 starts and allowed four runs just once this season. deGrom’s 1.70 ERA is the big number that jumps out, but it’s even more impressive with the 217 innings pitched. Accomplishing an ERA of 1.70 or lower with at least 200 innings pitched has been done just 10 times since 1920 (300 strikeouts in a season has been done 31 times in the same time frame).

To reach such a big milestone requires serious consistency. deGrom did that too. He held opponents to three runs or fewer in 29 consecutive starts, the longest single-season streak in major league history (min. 50 combined innings). He hurled 24 consecutive quality starts, again a single-season record. deGrom is the only pitcher in modern MLB history (since 1900) to have a season with a sub-2.00 ERA, at least 260 strikeouts, 50 or fewer walks and 10 or fewer homers allowed.

He was a strikeout machine, recording 269 on the season (fourth-most in baseball) with 11 double-digit strikeout games, second-most in the National League. He became the fastest Mets pitcher to reach 1,000 career strikeouts in the final matchup of the season.

Still not convinced? “But what about his lack of high-leverage innings?” Consider this:

DeGrom had a 1.79 ERA (29 earned runs/145.2 innings) and 182 strikeouts against teams that finished with a .500 or better record…He led the NL in ERA, innings pitched and strikeouts against teams with a .500 or better record (min. 60 innings).

Finally, let’s take a glance at the leaderboard:

ERA — 1.70 — Led MLB

FanGraphs WAR — 8.8 — Led MLB

RA-9 WAR — 9.2 — Led MLB

FIP — 1.99 — Led MLB

Opponent’s Slugging — .277 — Lowest in MLB

Opponent’s OPS — .521 — Lowest in MLB

HR/9–0.41 — Led MLB

Road ERA — 1.87 — Led Majors

Soft contact — 25.2% — Led Majors

DRA — 2.08 — Led MLB

Innings — 217.0 innings — Second in MLB

Quality Starts — 28 — Tied for the most in MLB

WHIP — 0.91 — Tied for NL lead

Baseball-Reference WAR — 10.0 — Tied for NL lead

Opponent’s OBP — .244 — Led NL

Home ERA — 1.54 — Led NL

ERA+ — 216 — Led NL

xwOBA (expected weighted on-base) — .252 — Led NL

Jacob deGrom is the best pitcher in baseball. Don’t let anyone tell you different.