Cease's Cy Young case goes to the voters

SAN DIEGO -- If true justice existed among the Major League Baseball gods, there would have been a better finish to Dylan Cease’s remarkable 2022 campaign.

Not necessarily something as spectacular as a no-hitter, which Cease missed by one out and one Luis Arraez single on Sept. 3 in Chicago. But something more along the lines of six scoreless innings with seven or eight strikeouts would have made sense for the American League Cy Young candidate Saturday night against the Padres at Petco Park.

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After all, the right-hander made 14 consecutive starts from May 29 to Aug. 11 in which he allowed one earned run or fewer to become the first starter (non-opener) since 1913 to accomplish such a feat, according to Baseball Reference. But Cease didn’t get the storybook ending, so to speak, during a 5-2 loss to the Padres.

In five-plus innings and 104 pitches, Cease allowed four runs on five hits with four walks and five strikeouts. It was just the second time since Aug. 5 (covering 11 starts) that Cease allowed more than three runs.

San Diego’s last four hitters reached base against Cease in the sixth, via Manny Machado’s single, Jake Cronenworth’s go-ahead home run on a pretty well-placed slider and then walks to Brandon Drury and Josh Bell. But, again, the big picture should not be overlooked.

Cease is an elite starting pitcher.

“It was a really great season. Would've liked to finish a little stronger. Definitely a lot of improvements,” said Cease, giving credit to pitching coach Ethan Katz and catchers Yasmani Grandal and Seby Zavala. “It was a good year.

“Making every start is huge -- more innings, as well. Just getting a feel for the slider and offspeed, throwing it in the strike zone. In terms of that, it was great. Still got some stuff to work on, obviously, but there's definitely a lot of progress this year."

With those five strikeouts against the Padres, Cease set a single-season career high by one with 227. His 184 innings pitched also represent a new personal benchmark. Then there are his career-high 78 walks, most in the Majors.

“The biggest thing is just fastball command,” Cease said. “If I can limit the walks, that will make me that much of a better pitcher. I’ve got that curveball and slider in the strike zone pretty well. Now it’s the fastball, I think, to finish it off.”

Count Machado impressed.

“He's a good pitcher. He's got good [stuff], good [stuff],” said Machado, who faced Cease for the first time. “Off of good pitchers you've got to lock in. They're not going to give you much. Cease didn't give us much today.”

Cease would like to become the fourth White Sox pitcher to win a Cy Young Award, joining Early Wynn (1959), LaMarr Hoyt (1983) and Jack McDowell (1993). Houston’s Justin Verlander resides at the top of this year’s list of AL candidates after working his way back from Tommy John surgery and standing as the best pitcher on the AL’s top team at age 39. Verlander has a 17-4 record with a 1.80 ERA over 27 starts and 170 innings, allowing 116 hits and 28 walks with an AL best 0.85 WHIP to go with 175 strikeouts.

Overall numbers for Cease are pretty commensurate. He finished with a 14-8 record and a 2.20 ERA, behind only Verlander. His .190 batting average against ranks third-lowest in the Majors.

Toronto’s Alek Manoah, the Angels’ Shohei Ohtani, Tampa Bay’s Shane McClanahan and possibly even Cleveland closer Emmanuel Clase are in the discussion.

“Unbelievable improvement from last year to this year,” White Sox acting manager Miguel Cairo said. “Command his fastball; his slider was nasty. Everything was an upgrade from last year. It was fun to watch him pitch and compete every day he went out there.”

Added Machado: “We faced a Cy Young winner today or a hopeful Cy Young winner. He was tough all the way around. However, you've got to get the job done. We had good at-bats off of him.”

Being talked about in the same sentence of excellence with Verlander adds greater validation to Cease’s great season.

“I’ve been watching him since I was young,” Cease said. “To go out there and kind of be competing against him, in a way like that, is really cool. And, obviously, he’s had an incredible year.

“I'm not sure what everyone else's numbers and all that look like. Obviously, I want to place as high as I can. So, hopefully, it happens."