What Jacob deGrom's 2018 Season Would Look Like in 1998

What would Jacob deGrom's 2018 season look like if he pitched in 1998 instead? Below, his real 2018 line sits beside a cross-era translation into 1998's run environment — and a live slider lets you drop that season into any year in MLB history.

Jacob deGrom — 2018 (real)

As actually pitched
1.70 ERA, 0.91 WHIP

Translated to 1998

Modeled estimate · 1998 run environment
1.82 ERA, 0.98 WHIP

Why the translated ERA is higher: 1998 was a higher-offense run environment than 2018 (league ERA 4.15 → 4.43).

What this translation does not account for

This is a model, not a prediction. It re-expresses only Jacob deGrom's rate stats against 1998's league run environment — and nothing else. It does not account for the depth of competition (integration, international talent, a vastly larger athlete pool), pitch velocity, modern pitch arsenals (sliders, splitters, sweepers), strength and conditioning, or in-game adjustments and advanced scouting.

So a higher translated line means 1998 was simply a higher-offense era — not a claim that Jacob deGrom would actually perform better against today's pitching.

Rate Stats: Real vs. Translated

These rate stats are re-expressed by holding Jacob deGrom's performance relative to his league constant and re-basing it on 1998's averages (the same idea behind OPS+/ERA+).

Stat2018 (real)1998 (modeled)
ERA 1.70 1.82
WHIP 0.91 0.98

Counting Stats (2018, as played)

Wins10
Losses9
Games32
Games Started32
Strikeouts269
Shutouts0
Complete Games1
Innings217.0

Why counting totals aren't translated: scaling a counting stat by the league environment ratio massively over-inflates era outliers — e.g. a 1920s slugger's home runs would balloon to absurd modern totals. So home runs, RBI, wins, strikeouts and the like are shown exactly as Jacob deGrom produced them.

Verdict

This is a model, not a prediction. In 1998, the peak of the steroid-era home-run chase — a run environment harder to pitch in than 2018's (league ERA 4.15 → 4.43) — one reasoned way to express Jacob deGrom's 2018 season is roughly a 1.82 ERA and 0.98 WHIP. That holds his dominance relative to his league constant and re-bases it on 1998's averages; it is not a claim that Jacob deGrom would actually post those numbers. His counting totals (10 W, 269 K) are shown exactly as he pitched them, because scaling counting stats across eras wildly inflates outliers.

Try Any Era — Live

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Jacob deGrom in Other Eras

View Jacob deGrom's full profile → · Browse all era translations →