Dylan Cease has had a tough season for the Chicago White Sox. After being the Cy Young runner-up in 2022, it is fair to say that 2023 was a disaster for him. He wasn’t bad by any means but he was far from elite.
On Saturday, he made what could be the last start of the season as he has made 32 starts once again. That is usually the full season slate for a full-time member of a starting rotation. There are enough games left for him to make another but we’ll see.
If this was it for Cease, he went out with a huge game. In fact, it might be his best of the entire season. After not being traded at the deadline and almost certain that the off-season will have that type of chatter, this is good for both sides.
Against a pretty good Boston Red Sox lineup, Cease went 7.0 innings and gave up no runs on six hits. He didn’t walk a single batter and struck out 11. Now, he is over the 200-strikeout plateau once again. It was amazing for him.
When Dylan left the game, it was 0-0. It wasn't until Luis Robert Jr. hit his 38th home run that the White Sox took a 1-0 lead and it held as the final score. It was a fun win for them late in the year.
The Chicago White Sox saw Dylan Cease have an incredible performance.
There are a few contenders that would have loved this version of Cease heading into October but it never came to be. As mentioned before, that will surely be revisited in the off-season. At this point, the White Sox might as well keep him and let him get another chance in 2024.
If they plan on being a good team, realistic or not, Cease should be there. What they do with him will pretty much tell the world what direction they are going in. It should be very interesting.
If Cease were to make that 33rd start, it would come next weekend against the San Diego Padres. That would be cool to see but it also might just be better to see him shut it down for the season.
His off-season program will be about replicating what he did against Boston in this final game all year long next year. That looked like the Cease that we came to know in 2022.
Like a lot of the White Sox players this year, Cease took a step back. Unlike a lot of the White Sox players, there is a ton of hope that he will get back to form all the time.