The other day, while watching and admiring the last few moments of Jacob deGrom’s masterpiece of a season, a friend of mine asked for a quick list of the 10 greatest pitching seasons in Mets history. I’ll share that in a couple of paragraphs.

But what struck me as I was trying to compile a competent list was this:

This is really one of the only lists — if not the only list — where it is actually possible to compare and contrast a full complement of Mets with a full complement of Yankees. Much of that is due to the vast dueling chasms of both history and success: The Yankees had a 59-year head start on the Mets, after all, and they also have a slight 27-2 advantage in championship flags (including 8-2 since the Mets were born in ’62).

And it is an even greater fool’s errand if you’re going to have a discussion on the relative merits of the teams’ offensive prowess. Put it this way: The Mets have had one man in their history crack 1.000 in OPS in a season. (Mike Piazza, 2000, 1.012). The Yankees? They’ve had 38 — Babe Ruth alone did it 13 times (decades before it had even been invented).

But pitching?

Well, that’s another thing. The Yankees have had some terrific pitchers, and some terrific years, but they have long been the “Bombers,” not the “Bowlers” (sorry, the thesaurus didn’t spit out anything better to be alliterative with “Bronx”). This is a debate you can actually have.

This, then, was One Man’s Opinion for the top 10 Mets and Yankees seasons in history from a starting pitcher.

Top 10 Mets pitching seasons

Pitcher Year W-L ERA IP SO WHIP
1. Dwight Gooden 1985 24-4 1.53 276.2 268 0.965
2. Jacob deGrom 2018 10-9 1.70 217.0 269 0.912
3. Tom Seaver 1971 20-10 1.76 286.1 289 0.946
4. Tom Seaver 1969 25-7 2.21 273.1 208 1.039
5. Dwight Gooden 1984 17-9 2.60 218.0 276 1.073
6. Jerry Koosman 1968 19-12 2.08 263.2 178 1.100
7. Tom Seaver 1973 19-10 2.08 290.0 251 0.976
8. Jerry Koosman 1976 21-10 2.69 247.1 200 1.096
9. David Cone 1988 20-3 2.22 231.1 213 1.115
10. R.A. Dickey 2012 20-6 2.73 233.2 230 1.053

(Honorable mention: Jon Matlack, 1974; Seaver, 1975; Johan Santana, 2008; Matt Harvey, 2013.)

Top 10 Yankees pitching seasons

Pitcher Year W-L ERA IP SO WHIP
1. Jack Chesbro 1904 41-12 1.82 454.2 239 0.937
2. Ron Guidry 1978 25-3 1.74 273.2 248 0.946
3. Catfish Hunter 1975 23-14 2.58 328.0 177 1.009
4. Whitney Ford 1963 24-7 2.74 269.1 189 1.099
5. Russ Ford 1910 26-6 1.65 299.2 209 0.881
6. Spud Chandler 1943 20-4 1.64 253.0 134 0.992
7. Whitey Ford 1961 25-4 3.21 283.0 209 1.180
8. Bob Shawkey 1916 24-14 2.21 276.2 122 1.030
9. Lefty Gomez 1934 26-5 2.33 281.2 158 1.133
10. Allie Reynolds 1952 20-8 2.07 244.1 160 1.191

(Honorable mention: Roger Clemens, 2001; CC Sabathia, 2011; Masahiro Tanaka, 2016; Luis Severino, 2017)

Now, from here, you can have a lot of fun with this. The Yankees, of course, have four Hall of Famers on this list and the Mets only have one on theirs. Jack Chesbro’s season in 1904 isn’t just the best one in Yankees history, it’s one of the best ever, even if you dismiss the 41 wins (and 454²/₃ — 454²/₃! — innings) as a product of the times.

But you have to say: Those are two terrific lists, and there’s plenty of ammunition on both sides, and as much as I’ve tried to think of another one it really is the only debate you could possibly have between the franchises while keeping a straight face.

(Sure, the ’86 Mets were awesome … but you could argue they’d have to beat both the ’98 and ’61 Yankees in the Lincoln-Douglas quarterfinals and semifinals before even getting a crack at the ’27 Yankees.)

Just another gift deGrom had bequeathed Mets fans in this otherwise disappointing year. His right arm really is the gift that keeps on giving.

It is simply not possible to produce a more interesting, informative and beautifully written biography than Ian O’Connor has in “Belichick: The Making of the Greatest Football Coach of All Time.” This is the kind of gold-standard reporting that all journalists aspire to, and few actually achieve. You’ll never read 455 faster pages.

If you love basketball as I do, you will find “Basketball: A Love Story” irresistible. The 20-hour project, the brainchild of New York’s own basketball laureate Dan Klores is a 62-chapter marvel that will keep you in a rabbit hole as long as you want to be there. Available on ESPN’s app now, and on the network for five Tuesdays starting
Oct. 9-Nov. 13.

You know when I’ll believe the Giants are fixed and that last week wasn’t an outlier fueled by playing a good team? When it’s Giants 27, Saints 21 at about 7:30 Sunday night.

You know who’s going to be a lot of fun to watch this year? Kenny Atkinson’s Brooklyn Nets.

Marc Aronin: Through my experiences, no athlete was more polarizing than the best Knick ever, Patrick Ewing. Do you remember when the Knicks were good and so many of the 19,763 in attendance groaned when he would post someone up in the low post? Never have I seen a great player be that much a source of controversy — on the court.
Vac: I suspect many of those folks would like a mulligan on those boos.

Richard Ievoli: Like everyone else, I am fervently hoping Aaron Boone’s decision to stick with Gary Sanchez pays off. So why do I keep flashing on an image of Ereck Flowers?
Vac: Because so many Yankees pitchers this year have worn the same look as Eli looking through the ear hold of his helmet after watching their “catcher” trying to “catch.”

@MikeVacc: Great look for the freshly-benched Ereck Flowers, downing a sleeve of sunflower seeds on the sidelines. Perfect.
@Aloha5006: Doesn’t top [Mark] Sanchez scarfing hot dogs! Did we ever hear how Sanchez got the dogs?
@MikeVacc: (Every now and again we let the readers take the lead here at the Whacks.)

Kenneth Meltsner: Somewhere in eternity, Y.A. Tittle is watching these bogus roughing-the-passer penalties in disbelief.
Vac: I suspect that somewhere in Greater Chicago, Dick Butkus is having the exact same reaction.