Jacob deGrom Wins No. 100 on Son’s Third Birthday: What Made Rangers Ace’s Milestone Special
Jacob deGrom is on the wrong side of 37 and has spent most of the last four years rebuilding his elbow. Reaching 100 career wins was never going to be easy. He finally crossed the line on Monday, and the timing made the milestone something else entirely.
The Rangers ace beat the Cardinals 2-1, tossing five scoreless innings while striking out eight to earn his 100th career win. It was the kind of vintage deGrom outing that has been in short supply since his Tommy John surgeries: four hits allowed, total command, exactly the version of himself the Rangers paid $185 million to get back.
And then deGrom told reporters why this one mattered more than the rest.
It was his son Nolan’s third birthday.
“It will always be memorable because of that,” deGrom said.
You can hear what that does to a guy. The kid is three. The dad is 37 and has spent enormous chunks of those three years rehabbing instead of pitching. He had been chasing win No. 100 for weeks. His first three attempts at the milestone went 0-2 with 12 earned runs allowed across 15 innings, which is not the deGrom we remember from his Mets peak. The crowd at Globe Life Field has been watching a Hall of Fame talent fight his own body for the better part of half a decade.
And on his son’s birthday, he finally got it.
That is the kind of moment baseball gives you almost nowhere else. It is a long season, full of arbitrary milestones, but every now and then the calendar lines up and a player gets to give the win to someone he loves.
The basketball context here matters too. DeGrom is now the 16th active pitcher to reach 100 career wins, joining a list that includes Clayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer, Gerrit Cole, and the rest of the modern era’s best. Considering he debuted in the majors at 26 and missed nearly two full seasons to elbow surgery, 100 wins is a real accomplishment.
If deGrom had stayed healthy throughout his prime, this conversation would not be about 100 wins. It would be about 200. Two Cy Young Awards, an ERA in the low-2s for years, and a strikeout rate that bordered on cartoonish, all interrupted by an arm that simply could not keep up with what his brain and his fastball were demanding of it.
That makes the 100th win heavier, not lighter.
The Rangers needed this one too. Texas was looking for a fourth straight win and got it behind deGrom’s outing, the kind of performance that reminds everyone why the franchise gambled $185 million on a pitcher with an injury history this brutal.
The 2026 Rangers are not the 2023 World Series champs, but they are scrappy and getting healthier. Having deGrom available as a credible front-line starter changes their ceiling. Having deGrom pitch like this changes the entire AL West race.
For now, the box score gets a 1 next to his name in the win column. He gets to go home and tell his son the story. And baseball gets one of those quiet, perfect moments that makes the sport worth caring about.
Jacob deGrom has been one of the best pitchers of his generation. He finally has a personal milestone that matches his career arc. And he got to give it to a three-year-old who is too young to understand any of it yet.
That is the best version of this sport.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
