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Cease (1-1) took the loss against Boston on Monday, allowing four runs on seven hits and three walks while striking out five batters over 5.2 innings.
Cease got through three scoreless frames before things unraveled for him. He gave up a run in the fourth, two more in fifth and another in the sixth before being pulled. The veteran righty induced a decent 13 whiffs, but his five punchouts were his fewest in a start so far this season. Cease still ranks second in MLB with 49 punchouts and has a 2.87 ERA through 31.1 innings, so the beginning of his Toronto tenure has been successful overall. His next start is projected to be a road tilt in Minnesota.
Blue Jays' Dylan Cease: Piles up 12 punchouts in victory
Rotowire
Cease (1-0) earned the win over the Angels on Monday, allowing two runs on five hits and two walks while striking out 12 batters over five innings.
Cease needed 110 pitches to get through five frames, but that's largely because Angels hitters had a hard time putting his pitches in play. Of the 15 outs the right-hander recorded, 12 came via punchouts, and Cease racked up a whopping 18 total whiffs. The big performance helped Cease earn his first win as a Blue Jay, though he's pitched well enough this season to deserve more. Through five starts, Cease has posted a 2.10 ERA and 1.29 WHIP across 25.2 frames. He also leads MLB with 44 punchouts and has yet to serve up a home run.
Cease didn't factor into the decision Wednesday against the Brewers, giving up two hits and three walks while fanning six across six scoreless innings.
Cease completed six innings for the first time this season, and the hard-throwing right-hander continues to rack up strikeouts. He has punched out at least six in each of his four starts on his way to 32 strikeouts over 20.2 innings, although he's also walked 12, which is pretty high even by his standards. Cease has a 1.74 ERA in four starts, but he also carries a 1.26 WHIP that's largely the byproduct of the amount of free passes he's handing out. He's slated to make his next start next week on the road against the Angels.
Cease did not factor into the decision Wednesday against the Dodgers, allowing two runs (one earned) on four hits and four walks across five innings. He struck out eight.
Command continues to be an issue for Cease, who's now issued nine walks over his first 14.2 innings this year, though he's also logged 26 strikeouts to help limit the damage. Through his first three starts with Toronto, Cease sports a 2.45 ERA with a 1.43 WHIP. He'll look to get into the win column for the first time in 2026 his next time out, tentatively scheduled to come next week in Milwaukee.
Blue Jays' Dylan Cease: Lacks command in no-decision
Rotowire
Cease did not factor into the decision in Friday's 5-4 extra-inning loss to the White Sox, allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits and three walks with six strikeouts over 4.1 innings.
Cease allowed a run via his own error in the first inning and two more in the third. He threw just 51 of 93 pitches for strikes despite generating a whopping 16 whiffs, exiting after a one-out walk in the fifth. While the 30-year-old is no stranger to inconsistency, it was an obvious step back from his 12-strikeout debut with the Blue Jays on Saturday. He's slated for a tough home matchup against the Dodgers next week.
Blue Jays' Dylan Cease: TOR-CWS postponed Thursday
Rotowire
Cease won't start Thursday against the White Sox after the game was postponed to Friday due to a forecast of inclement weather in Chicago.
The Blue Jays are likely to push Cease and the rest of their rotation back a day as a result of the postponement, so the right-hander should still be lined up to start the series opener Friday.
Blue Jays' Dylan Cease: Flashes more diverse pitch mix
Rotowire
Cease has more confidence in his changeup this season and seems committed to broadening his arsenal, Mitch Bannon of The Athletic reports.
The right-hander has been essentially a two-pitch pitcher during his big-league career, throwing his two-seam fastball and slider over 40 percent of the time last season with the Padres, but in his first outing for the Blue Jays on Saturday, neither pitch reached that mark while his knuckle curve, two-seamer, changeup and sweeper all sat with usage rates between 7.8 percent and 10.0 percent. The changeup was especially impressive, as he's firmed it up a bit to give it more velocity and arm-side run but less vertical drop. The result was eight whiffs on eight changeups that averaged 83.7 mph, as batters sold out to try and meet his usual high-90s heat. "I'm going to keep fine-tuning it," Cease said. "Trying to find a little more consistency with command, but I like where it's at." With batters having more to think about than ever before when facing Cease, he struck out 12 batters in 5.1 innings -- setting a franchise record for Ks in a Blue Jays debut in the process.
