White Sox: Dylan Cease should be proud of his 2022 season

The Chicago White Sox came into 2022 expecting to see Dylan Cease take a step as a starting pitcher. He had ups and downs to start his young career which is expected for wildly talented starters trying to make their way in the league.

Luckily, he has more than exceeded expectations. Even those that thought he was going to be good couldn’t have predicted this from him. He is, in all likelihood, going to finish in second place for the American League Cy Young Award. Justin Verlander might just edge him out to take it.

That is nothing to be anything other than extremely proud of for Dylan Cease. Would it have been nice for him to take home the hardware and not have to worry about Verlander? Of course but that is the game of baseball in the Major Leagues. There are other fierce competitors.

Cease just made his 32nd start of the season on Saturday night. That made him the only White Sox starter to finish the season making all 32 starts which are also something to be very proud of. He didn’t have the best start of his season as four runs were credited against him in 5.0 innings.

The Chicago White Sox got everything they needed and more from Dylan Cease.

He had five strikeouts to bring his total on the year to 227 which is fourth in Major League Baseball and second in the American League only behind Gerrit Cole of the New York Yankees. His stuff is clearly as good as anyone in the league.

His 2.20 ERA is sitting at second in the American League as well, this time only behind Verlander. He has done a great job keeping the other team off the scoreboard for most of the season. It is a shame that his offense didn’t give him the run support that he needed a lot of the time.

Dylan Cease allowed one run or less in 23 of his 32 starts this season. That is tied for the most in franchise history with Wilbur Wood in 1972. Ironically enough, Wood came in second place for the American League Cy Young Award that year.

Now that this season is in the books for Cease, he can set even higher goals. He can try to earn the right to be the ace of the staff for more than just a season. As we have seen from others, you always need to stay on top of things in order to be an elite pitcher year after year.

You can expect Cease to have a really good offseason and come into 2023 ready to be the Opening Day starter. As one of the true bright spots on a very tough season, he has been a pleasure to watch.