Blue Jays fans get a taste of roller coaster Cease experience in first spring outing

When the Toronto Blue Jays signed Dylan Cease to the largest contract in franchise history, it didn't come without some trepidations from industry sources. In fact many MLB executives chose the seven-year $210 million deal as one of the worst signings of the offseason. They cited it as an overpay for a guy who walks and hits too many batters and that he can't get his control under command for a guy who commanded so much money.

The Blue Jays though, knew what they were getting into. They wanted a guy who could come in and lead at the top of the rotation with his strikeout abilities and in his first spring outing, Cease gave everyone a glimpse of all of that.

Blue Jays fans get a taste of roller coaster Cease experience in first spring outing

In Cease's debut spring game for the Blue Jays he took on the Philadelphia Phillies in Dunedin on Saturday afternoon (Feb. 28). He faced a lineup that included some of the Phillies big name hitters such as Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper. In his 1.2 innings of work, Cease gave the Blue Jays a tase of what to expect when he's on the mound for them in 2026.

He began by walking the first batter, Justin Crawford, on six pitches. Only one of them was in the zone, while the other five pitches were nowhere close to the zone. Crawford fouled off a 90 mph slider that basically kissed the tops of his shoes for the second strike, but laid off back-to-back fastballs to get on base. Cease started the next at-bat against Schwarber by missing badly again with the first two pitches, but reigned it in and pumped some high heat by Schwarber for his first strikeout.

The following at-bat with Harper at the plate was very similar. A couple of pitches way outside of the zone that Harper just stared at, but the other ones were pitches that Harper couldn't touch. He got harper swinging at a high fastball that hit 97.5 mph on the radar gun. He hit 98.3 mph on his first strike in the Schwarber at-bat.

Cease got Sosa to fly out to end the top of the first, and then got the first two batters out of the second inning. Garrett Stubbs struck out on five pitches, in almost the exact same sequence that Schwarber did with Gausman going knuckle curve, four-seam fastball for balls one and two. That was followed by three straight fastballs that all hit 95 mph+ that Stubbs couldn't get a piece of.

Otto Kemp then flied out and Cease was an out away from getting through two innings, but Bryan De La Cruz ruined that by sending a ball 432 feet over the center field wall for a solo home run. It came on a 3-2 pitch and Cease tried to sneak a middle-low fastball by him, but De La Cruz caught up to the 97 mph four-seamer and smoked it. Cease was then replaced by Jesse Hann, ending his day after six batters, three strikeouts, a walk and a home run.

At times he was erratic, but he also managed to overcome that by simply over powering hitters with a fast ball that will be hard to catch up to and that's exactly the kind of roller coaster ride Cease will likely take Blue Jays fans on during his outings in 2026. Last year, Cease led the league with an 11.5 SO/9 rate, but also walked hitters at a 3.8 BB/9 rate. He's racked up five straight seasons of 200+ strikeouts, but he also leads all qualified pitchers with 361 walks since 2021. Cease also gave up a career high 21 home runs in 2025.

So while there are areas to correct in his game as Spring Training continues, this is also the Cease many expected. A guy who can get outs all by himself, but who also hurts himself by not controlling the zone all the time.