The Chicago White Sox came into Sunday’s game needing a huge spark. They had lost four straight after gaining some momentum against the Toronto Blue Jays. Unfortunately, all of the good vibes were gone after dropping the first three in this series to the Baltimore Orioles.
Dylan Cease was on the mound looking to save the day on Sunday. Luckily, he was as good as he has ever been. Some people were questioning his ability to be great against great teams so he went out and shut down the Toronto Blue Jays last week (and they have an elite offense).
Now, he had the lower-level Orioles in town and he shoved. Cease went 7.0 strong innings where he only gave up one run (on a solo shot), one walk, and four hits. He also managed to have a whopping 13 strikeouts which set a new career-high for him. The White Sox won in large part to his outstanding work.
Cease now has 121 strikeouts which is good for second in Major League Baseball. The only one who has more is Shane McClanahan and he only leads by two strikeouts. He will definitely finish amongst the top strikeout totals in all of baseball if he stays healthy.
He is also 12th amongst qualified pitchers in ERA with a 2.56. There is no doubt that the Cy Young conversation will surround him if he keeps up numbers like this. As of right now, he has to be considered the best pitcher on the team.
Dylan Cease has been pitching like an ace for the Chicago White Sox lately.
We all know what Michael Kopech, Lance Lynn, and Lucas Giolito are capable of doing. In the case of Lynn and Giolito, they have proven to be aces in the past but it is hard to say they are ahead of Cease at this point in time. These numbers are nasty.
We won’t see Cease in this upcoming series against the Los Angeles Angels but we should see him against the San Francisco Giants. To be honest, he will be much needed in that series against a much better (and more sound) team.
These types of performances from Cease give Chris Sale vibes. We all remember when he was in his prime with the White Sox as it was incredibly exciting to see him go 6 or more innings with double-digit strikeouts. Cease has that level of talent and is showing it lately.