The 29-year-old is coming off an up-and-down 2025 campaign with the San Diego Padres, where he went 8-12 while posting a 4.55 ERA with 215 strikeouts in 168 innings pitched.
Before that, he has three double-digit scoring seasons under his belt, including a sparkling 2022 campaign with the Chicago White Sox, where his 2.20 ERA earned him a runner-up finish in the AL Cy Young race.
Cease will now join an already formidable rotation that helped the Blue Jays get to Game 7 of the World Series last season, and his addition will be a huge boost in their chances of getting back on track and getting the job done this time.
Dylan Cease takes Toronto’s rotation from good to great
The Blue Jays starting five was strong and deep in 2025, but with Cease in the fold, they have increased their lead and depth at the position in one move.
Cease has a top quality repertoire, and a visit to Toronto to work with their pitching staff should do wonders for him.
The Blue Jays haven’t had a pitcher throw more than 200 strikeouts since Kevin Gausman in 2023 (237), something Cease has done in five consecutive seasons and given them an element of swing and miss that they simply haven’t had in their starting rotation.
He does this with one of the nastiest sliders in baseball, a very different way of missing bats than the splitters Gausman and Trey Yesavage live on to get their strikeouts. Not to mention his average fastball velocity of over 97 mph, which surpasses what any of the starting options Toronto has had in recent years yielded.
In today’s baseball, pitching is leaning even further toward strikeout and velocity, and that’s what Cease has and what the Blue Jays lacked.
Combine his skill set with the aforementioned Gausman, Yesavage, Shane Bieber and Jose Berrios, and the Blue Jays boast a starting five that can match up with just about anyone in the MLB.
The sadness over the end of the 2025 season will never go away for the team and its fans, but keeping all their chips in the offseason is certainly a good start if they want to move forward.
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