Blue Jays vs. Rangers: Dylan Cease and Toronto’s fading wild-card hopes hit the wall in Texas - Toronto Star
This late-season swoon might teach the Jays some lessons about how to handle ace Cease in the future.
Blue Jays starting pitcher Dylan Cease exits in the third inning after walking six Texas batters in Friday night's road loss to the Rangers.
Dylan Cease appears to have run out of gas, and the same could be said about the Blue Jays’ ability to make the playoffs.
Cease has been carrying the starting rotation and middling offence for most of the year. The heavy lifting clearly took a toll for the stretch run.
The velocity on Cease’s fastball has been steadily declining for several weeks and dipped even lower in a 7-1 road loss to the Texas Rangers on Friday night. The 30-year-old right-hander allowed four runs and couldn’t get out of the third inning of the pivotal series opener.
Meanwhile, the Cleveland Guardians won to move into first place in the American League Central, while the Chicago White Sox lost. That means the Jays trail the White Sox by two games for the final wild-card spot, and they do not own the tiebreaker.
Not an ideal second inning for the Blue Jays pic.twitter.com/u11MktgcTX
Cease’s poor showing should also eliminate him from Cy Young consideration. That honour will likely go to Yankees right-hander Cam Schlittler, who has pitched more innings (184 2/3 vs. 169) with a lower ERA (1.95 vs. 2.40) and fewer walks/hits per inning pitched (0.90 vs. 1.10).
It wasn’t supposed to end this way. Through the first five months, Cease was consistently hitting the upper-90s in miles per hour with his fastball. That high velocity combined with a wipeout slider turned him into the major-league leader in strikeouts and a front-runner to win the first Cy Young of his career.
The warning signs started earlier this month. Against the Athletics on Sept. 7, his average fastball velocity fell below 95 m.p.h. for the first time since 2023. The problems continued in Cease’s next outing versus the Baltimore Orioles, when he failed to average 95 m.p.h. or higher in back-to-back starts for the first time in the big leagues.
The lack of heat became an even bigger issue in Texas. Through the first couple of innings, his fastball sat in the 91-to-93-m.p.h. range. By the time he walked off the field with his team trailing by four, his average was still only 93.6 m.p.h., a career low.
The other issue against Texas was that his command was all over the place. Cease threw just 36 of 74 pitches for strikes with an alarming six walks, his most since Aug. 16 of last year.
Every inning, every pitch was a grind. Cease walked two in the first inning, but escaped unscathed. There were two more walks and a single by Nicky López in the second to load the bases.
