Ace Cease, closer Varland honored as First Team All-MLB selections

TORONTO -- Both Dylan Cease and Louis Varland have been named to the All-MLB First Team, a fitting honor for two of the finest seasons we’ve seen from a Blue Jays starter and closer, respectfully.

Announced Wednesday night during The MLB Awards presented by MGM Rewards in Las Vegas, this caps a busy awards season for the Blue Jays’ stars, as Cease was also a finalist for the AL Cy Young Award and Varland was named BBWAA AL Reliever of the Year.

They’re in great company, too. The First Team pitching staff alongside Cease includes Jacob Misiorowski of the World Series champion Brewers, Cam Schlittler of the Yankees, Chris Sale of the Braves and Cristopher Sánchez of the Phillies. Down in the First Team bullpen, Varland is joined by Mason Miller of the Padres, as the two elite closers beat out Cade Smith of the Guardians and Bryan Baker of the Rays on the Second Team.

Cease’s debut season with the Blue Jays was everything they could have hoped for and more after signing the right-hander to a seven-year, $210 million deal last offseason. With a 2.40 ERA and 239 strikeouts over 169 innings, Cease was one of the most dominant pitchers in Major League Baseball this season. A brief hamstring issue cost him two starts earlier in the year and a shoulder issue shut him down in late September, but at his peaks in 2026, Cease was an absolutely overwhelming talent.

He carried a no-hitter into the ninth inning against the Giants back in July, and later that month, struck out 12 Red Sox batters over a complete-game, one-hit performance. He was a true workhorse through those summer months, and while it caught up to Cease by the end of the season, he was one of the best stories on a Blue Jays team in need of more.

When Cease signed his deal with the Blue Jays, there was a rare sense of eagerness coming from him. He sounded like a pitcher completely aware of his own talent, but completely dissatisfied by his own inconsistencies with the White Sox and Padres earlier in his career. Cease is obsessive over his craft, and along with some small tinkers throughout the season, he added a changeup that helped to unlock an even higher ceiling. After Year 1 in Toronto, the sky is the limit for him.

On the days Varland followed Cease out of the bullpen, it must have been a miserable assignment for hitters.

Once Varland took over the closer’s role from Jeff Hoffman in late April, he immediately established himself as one of the best in the sport. His 1.27 ERA with 97 strikeouts in 78 innings rank right up there with the great Tom Henke and Duane Ward among the best seasons we’ve ever seen from a back-end reliever in Toronto, and Varland’s 35 saves could have easily been more if he’d owned the job all season.

Ward still owns the record for the most saves in franchise history, with 45 in 1993, and he’s the only one to reach 40. Let Varland run with this job for a couple more seasons, though, and that record could be in danger.

Much of the frustration around the Blue Jays’ 79-83 record this season is that incredible individual performances, just like these, were lost along the way. Cease is the caliber of pitcher who could take over a postseason game, and as the Blue Jays’ bullpen workhorse during that 2025 run to the World Series, Varland proved he’s built for the big stage. Now, the Blue Jays just need to get them back where they belong.