The first time he pitched against the Yankees, Jacob deGrom was a sub, thrust into the 2014 Subway Series rotation because Dillon Gee got hurt. But deGrom surprised everyone -- including, let's be real, the Mets -- with a tremendous outing in his big-league debut, a bellwether of the brilliance to come.
And that kind of brilliance is exactly what the Mets need Friday night when deGrom takes the mound in the Subway Series once again. As one of baseball's best pitchers now, he'll never have another eye-opening stunner like his first one, and the Mets don't need a stopgap now -- they need a solution to their miserable funk.