For eight innings, Dylan Cease was untouchable. The Toronto Blue Jays biggest free agent signing in franchise history almost got into the teams’ record books for an on-field performance that would have instantaneously made him a legend. Taking a no-hitter into the ninth inning in San Francisco against the Giants (on Jul. 8), Cease was on the cusp of doing something only one man has ever done in a Blue Jays uniform
But alas, it was not meant to be as Heliot Ramos shot a ball into shallow center field to begin the ninth and ended Cease’s bid at the no-no, with the Blue Jays going on to win 10-0. His final line was eight innings pitched, one hit, one walk, no runs, 11 strikeouts and a FanGraphs game score of 90 – his best of the season. He has twice finished with a game score above 80
The first came on May 8, when he struck out ten of the LA Angels hitters over seven innings and didn’t allow a run on five hits, finishing with a game score of 81. In his previous start to Wednesday’s history making bid he shut down the Seattle Mariners (Jul. 3) over seven innings with nine strikeouts, one walk and three hits for a game score of 82
After the game, Cease summed up his performance with a quote that Blue Jays fans can really relate to. He told reporters, “Until you have it, it’s really far away.”
Those words can be attributed not just to the missed no-no by Cease (and many Blue Jays’ pitchers over the years) but also to the entire 2025 Blue Jays’ team, who were two outs away from capturing the World Series
Since Dave Stieb threw his no-hitter on Sep. 2, 1990, the Blue Jays have seen many valiant attempts by pitchersto etch their name in the record books next to his, but all of them have come up short. Roy Halladay lost his no-hit bid with one out in the ninth inning during his second career start in 1998. Dustin McGowan got close in 2007, as did Brandon Morrow in 2010. Bowden Francis lost a pair of no-hitters in September of 2024
The Blue Jays are just one of three MLB teams to only have one no-hitter thrown in their franchises history with the Tampa Bay Rays and Colorado Rockies being the other two. The San Diego Padres and Milwaukee Brewers are just ahead of them with two each
For now, the Blue Jays and their fans will have to wait to see if someone can ever match Stieb’s moment of perfection. But looking at the bigger picture, no-hitter or not, Cease has been worth everything the Blue Jays could’ve asked for
Cease’s deal paying off already for the Blue Jays
The 30-year-old right-hander is 6-4 with a 2.56 ERA and 2.20 FIP in 17 starts. He’s tossed 98.1 innings and leads MLB with a 13.55 K/9 rate, a 0.46 HR/9 rate, and leads the American League with a 3.7 fWAR
He’s also been named to the AL All-Star team, the first time he’ll be pitching in the Midsummer classic in his career. He’ll be representing the Blue Jays alongside Louis Varland, Ernie Clement and manager John Schneider
Many people were skeptical of the money the Blue Jays gave Cease in the offseason, suggesting a seven-year, $210 million contract was way too much for a guy that has walked way too many hitters over his career. But clearly, pitching coach Pete Walker has once again unlocked something in a pitcher that had control issues prior to coming to Toronto
It was also Walker who, aside from Cease, arguably wanted the no-hitter more than anybody. He told Mitch Bannon of the Athletic, “Selfishly, wanted it for this group, for the team. Certainly, since I’ve been here, we haven’t had one. It would be kind of cool. I just felt like he was cruising along…his stuff today, I mean, it was electric.”
The Blue Jays will hope that Cease continues to bring the electricity into the second-half where they will need to go on quite the run to get back into making themselves look like serious playoff contenders
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