NEW YORK _ The Mets season unofficially ended with Jacob deGrom on the mound, but it didn't matter.
The second National League wild-card spot looked out of reach before he'd even thrown a pitch � the Brewers manhandled the Reds out of the gate in Cincinnati � and the mathematical improbability had turned into a mathematical impossibility.
So deGrom did what he does � what he does for every start, whether the Mets give him run support or not, whether his team is in contention or not. He went at the Marlins with the power of a prizefighter and the finesse of a flutist and cemented himself as the clear favorite to repeat as the National League Cy Young Award winner.
He allowed no runs and two hits over seven innings, with one walk and seven strikeouts and at one point, retired 14 Marlins in a row in the 10-3 victory. DeGrom (11-8) ended his season on a 23-inning scoreless streak and dropped his ERA to 2.43, .02 off the major-league leader, the Dodgers' Hyun-Jin Ryu.
As he mowed down the worst offense in the National League on Wednesday, something unexpected happened. He got help. The Mets offense seemed intent to right the sins of the past, scoring multiple runs in the first three innings for the starting pitcher who came into the day with the fifth-worst run support in baseball (3.97). They almost matched that total in the first inning. Brandon Nimmo led off with a walk and Jeff McNeil drove him in with a double to right. One out later, Michael Conforto, who hit two homers Tuesday, doubled to right, scoring McNeil, then advanced to third on a rightfield error. Conforto scored on Wilson Ramos' sacrifice fly for the 3-0 lead.
Mickey Callaway, intent on giving his ace the best shot at a strong closing outing, assembled his best-possible defense. And Amed Rosario, who at times has struggled with his range, showed none of that.
He made a spectacular diving play on a ball in the second inning, flipping it to Robinson Cano, who barehanded it and threw to first for a double play. He made another play far to his left to get the out to lead off the fourth. And Pete Alonso, who entered the game in a deep funk, broke out of it in grand fashion in the second, hitting his 51st homer of the season, putting him one shy of Aaron Judge's rookie record.
In addition to being eliminated, there was one other piece of bad news for the Mets, Jeff McNeil was drilled on the wrist by Josh Smith's 89-mph fastball in the sixth inning and looked to be in considerable pain before leaving for a pinch runner. X-Rays revealed it to be a fractured right wrist.
From something of a long shot, deGrom has muscled himself into becoming the odds-on favorite to win the Cy Young � a mixture of his steady excellence, a dropoff from Ryu, and a long injury stint from the Nationals' Max Scherzer.
DeGrom was also tied for first with the Cardinals' Jack Flaherty in WHIP (0.99), and first in strikeouts (248) and WAR (6.9). His WHIP and strikeouts only improved in his final start of the season.
Scherzer has a higher strikeout-to-walk ratio and strikeout per nine innings, but also pitched around 30 fewer innings. Scherzer also had a bit of a clunker against the Phillies Tuesday, allowing four earned runs in five innings.
DeGrom also eclipsed 200 innings for the third year in a row, ending his season at 204.
"I don't know how important (Wednesday's star)) is in the race," Mickey Callaway said before the game. "In my mind, he's got a pretty commanding lead. But I think it's important for him, for our team to win another ballgame today. It's Jacob deGrom out there, so you've gotta figure he's going to pitch pretty well. He's worked so hard for this and I think that at this point, he deserves this award and I think he can solidify that tonight."
