Blue Jays’ Dylan Cease making strong push for AL Cy Young Award

Could become Blue Jays’ fifth winner after dominating performance against Mariners

Published Aug 28, 2026  •  2 minute read

Blue Jays starter Dylan Cease pitches during first inning MLB action against the Seattle Mariners at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Friday, Aug. 28, 2026. Photo by Vaughn Ridley /Getty Images

See more Toronto Sun on Google — save as a Preferred Source

Article content

With five and possibly six starts remaining in his first year in a Blue Jays uniform, Dylan Cease is very much in the hunt to become the Blue Jays’ fifth Cy Young winner.

Article content

Article content

It’s going to mean likely catching Cam Schlittler of the Yankees, who would appear to have the lead at this point in the season. However, Cease is showing no signs of letting up as Friday’s effort would suggest.

The hard-throwing right-hander went six strong innings striking out eight and allowing a lone run on a first inning solo homer to Dominic Canzone in the Jays’ 8-1 win over the Mariners on Friday night.

The fact that he came out at 92 pitches hinted at the Jays plans to keep him pitching every fifth day despite four off days over the final month of the schedule, which would mean six more starts.

Battling Yankees’ Schlittler

At this point the Jays want as much of Cease on the mound as they can get and that approach would give him a better chance of overtaking the Yankees’ Schlittler down the stretch and joining Pat Hentgen, Roger Clemens, Roy Halladay and Robbie Ray as Blue Jays’ Cy Young winners.

Article content

While Cease was dominating the Mariners, Schlittler was handling his own business with the Red Sox.

Cease lasted a third of an inning longer than Schlittler, who left Friday night’s game in the Bronx with a 1-0 lead. After the Yankees held on, Schlittler improved to 12 wins and dropped his already league-low ERA.

Cease though did pick up his ninth win of the year and saw his own ERA fall to 2.34, still trailing Schlittler’s 2.09 in that department.

Where Cease has a big edge is in strikeouts, now with 217 and just 11 shy of a new personal mark. But there is also a case to be made for a reliever like the Rays’ Bryan Baker who has a league-high 36 saves.

Making a strong case

Cease though is making a strong case with plenty of baseball still to be played.

For a change the Jays ace didn’t even need to be quite so fine with the offence coming up big behind him.

George Springer of the Blue Jays hits a solo home run in the fifth inning against the Seattle Mariners at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Friday, Aug. 28, 2026. Photo by Vaughn Ridley /Getty Images

The Jays put up eight runs on 11 hits with homers from Nathan Lukes, George Springer and Kazuma Okamoto.

Springer had four hits in the game including the homer to lead the offensive charge.

The Jays will send Jose Soriano to the mound in Game 2 of the series today. The Mariners have yet to name a starter.

[email protected]

Read More

1. 

   Buck Martinez reflects on his life with the Blue Jays ahead of Hall of Excellence honour

2. 

   Boo birds let Blue Jays and Vlad Guerrero Jr. have it after gruesome blowout loss to Royals

Article content