The Toronto Blue Jays may not be in the postseason come early July, but they still have time to get back on track with a very weak AL Wild Card field wide open.
But despite the overall struggles, the Blue Jays have gotten some incredible performances from individuals. Dylan Cease in particular just had an incredible June and is now getting into some very interesting conversations.
ESPN’s Bradford Doolittle named Cease a pitcher to watch in the AL Cy Young race, and with good reason. Keys could win this award thanks to his recent resurgence, the rest of his team’s struggles and his incredibly high strikeout rate.
How Dylan Keys Can Beat the AL Cy Young with the Blue Jays
“Cease was one of the AL’s most dominant starters, leading the league in strikeouts (128) while also striking out a career-best 13.8 batters per nine innings,” Doolittle writes. “…Things seem to be going well for Cease in his first season with the Blue Jays, and he appears poised for a big second half. He’ll be on the AL Cy Young roster.”
At midyear, Keys is ranked sixth on ESPN’s AL Cy Young tracker, behind Louis Varland, Drew Rasmussen, Parker Messick, Davis Martin and Cam Schlittler.
Young New York Yankees right-hander Schlittler is the current favorite. But after a recent rocky start, it’s possible that the Yankees’ starter could fall out of his top Cy Young competition this season.
Schlittler has a 2.08 ERA and 3.5 bWAR on the season, so he’s still the favorite and well ahead of Cease, who has a 3.02 ERA and 2.5 bWAR on the season.
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But since termination has been hot lately and Schlittler has struggled a bit, it’s possible that termination could start to catch up in the second half of 2026.
To do this, Keys will not only have to maintain his elite strikeout rate (13.8 strikeouts per nine), but he will also need to get deeper into games and add more innings to his season totals.
Keyes has 83.1 innings pitched in 15 starts this season. Schlittler has 104 innings in 18 starts, so Keys has plenty of catching up to do to close the gap between him and the club’s leader in contention for the AL Cy Young award.
But if recent trends continue and Keys remains hot while Schlittler falters, Keys does have a real chance to win the AL Cy Young Award, provided some other pitcher in the AL doesn’t finish the year very well as well.