NEW YORK -- One day, Dylan Cease will pull up a chair to Dave Stieb’s table.
No-hitters are mythical in Toronto. It has been nearly 36 years since Stieb finally recorded the first and only no-hitter in Blue Jays history, and for 36 years, pitchers have shown up on Stieb’s doorstep. A few of them have even knocked on the door, but that lock has never turned.
This time, Cease lugged his no-no through 6 2/3 innings Saturday at Yankee Stadium. It wasn’t nearly as clean, dominant or dramatic as the bid he carried into the ninth inning in San Francisco in July, but each of these flickers feels like something we’ll be referencing at some point down the road during Cease’s contract. It’s a cruel tradition in this organization that all of the greats have gone through.
“It feels like this happens every time he steps on the mound. The guy is unbelievable,” said Nathan Lukes, whose solo shot in the eighth was the eventual game-winner in a 4-3 victory over the Yankees. “It’s special what he’s doing this year. Being able to play behind him makes this even more special.”
Even the great Stieb, who finally reached the mountaintop on Sept. 2, 1990, suffered so many heartbreaks along the way. He originally lost a perfect game and two no-hitters in 1988 and ‘89, all three ending with two outs in the ninth inning. Roy Halladay, Brandon Morrow and Dustin McGowan have all lost no-hitters in the ninth inning, too, and Bowden Francis had two heartbreaks in late 2024.
This individual bid will be forgotten by next week, but it adds another chapter to a season that has become undeniable. Cease’s five walks muddied the waters Saturday, but he still held the Yankees to just one run over his 6 2/3 innings with eight strikeouts, lowering his ERA to 2.37. It’s down to Cease and Cam Schlittler for the American League Cy Young Award, and at this point, it’s close enough to call a dead heat.
“He’s been doing this all year,” Vladimir Guerrero Jr. said through interpreter Hector Lebron. “This is the second or third game where he’s taken it late into the game. What else can I say about him? Every day he’s out there, he gives us all that he has.”
Cease has been a road warrior, too. The lone run allowed ended Cease’s road scoreless streak at 42 innings, the second-longest road scoreless streak in at least the Expansion Era (since 1961). That trailed only 2004-05 Roger Clemens at 48 1/3 innings.
Cease is a workhorse, too, going over 100 pitches in 11 of his past 12 starts. Cease feels like the type of pitcher with big stuff who is, in 2026, getting shortened up to 95 pitches. He’s bucking the trend, though, a little old school sprinkled on top of such a modern pitcher.
“I feel pretty good,” Cease said. “It’s August, so I’m definitely grinding a little bit, but I’m able to take the ball, and that’s all that really matters.”
This is what Toronto dreamed of when it signed Cease to a seven-year, $210 million deal this past offseason. That deal wasn’t without its risks, as the Blue Jays were betting on Cease’s elite upside and trusting they could work with him to avoid the “down” years that have been peppered in. It has worked brilliantly.
Cease craves growth. He’s a pitching savant who talks like he owes this organization for the belief it has put in him. He knows how good he is, but he also knows that consistency has been his only downfall over the years. At times, he still sounds like a prospect who has just been called up, so certain that he’s about to make “the jump” and unlock a new level of himself.
“This year has been the biggest jump in development I’ve had in a long time,” Cease said. “That’s been a lot of fun and really exciting.”
Cease has 209 strikeouts now, and if things stay on turn, he could make six more starts this regular season. No one might ever reach Clemens’ club records for strikeouts in a single season (292 in 1997 and 271 in ‘98), but Cease has a clear path to the third most in franchise history. That’s currently held by Robbie Ray with 248 in his AL Cy Young season (‘21), just 39 away for Cease.
If Cease keeps pitching like this, he might join Clemens and Ray in the Cy Young club, too.