Jacob deGrom Celebrates 100th Win on Son's Birthday

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jacob deGrom delivered a memorable gift for his family on a special occasion. The Texas Rangers pitcher achieved his 100th career victory while celebrating his son Nolan's third birthday, leading his team to a 2-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday night.

“It’s really cool,” deGrom remarked. “As a kid, your goal is to just play major league baseball, and for it to become a reality and win 100 games in the major leagues, it’s kind of crazy to think about. Today was Nolan’s third birthday, so I’ll always remember that being my 100th night on his third birthday.”

The right-handed ace, who improved his record to 4-4, had previously reached his 99th win on May 10 after a stellar performance against the Chicago Cubs. Although deGrom faced challenges in his initial attempts to secure his 100th victory—going 0-2 and allowing 12 runs over 15 innings—he turned the tide in June, yielding only four hits and striking out eight batters on Monday.

“I was trying not to do too much,” deGrom explained. “Having the meeting, talking to (catcher) Danny (Jansen), I was like, ‘Hey, tonight we’re hitting the glove as many times as we can. Mechanics are what they are. We’re throwing everything else out the window. We’re going back to how I used to pitch.'”

Drafted in the ninth round of the 2010 amateur draft, deGrom made his major league debut with the New York Mets in 2014 and was named the NL Rookie of the Year. Despite a career record of 100-69 and a 2.61 ERA in 260 starts, he has struggled to reach 30 starts in a season, achieving that milestone for the first time since 2019 this year.

“He’s never really felt 100%,” Rangers manager Skip Schumaker noted. “I’ve said it before, he should be a Hall of Famer. I think he’s going to be a Hall of Famer. That’s how dominant he’s been throughout his career, and he’s still got a couple of years left in him, too.”

With this achievement, deGrom becomes the 16th active pitcher to reach 100 career wins, joining his teammate Nathan Eovaldi, who achieved the same milestone on July 30, 2025.