The Toronto Blue Jays suffered another potentially devastating injury scare Sunday when $210 million ace Dylan Cease exited early against the Pittsburgh Pirates after appearing to feel discomfort on the mound.
With Toronto’s rotation already ravaged by injuries, Cease’s abrupt departure immediately raised alarm for a club fighting to stay alive in the American League wild-card race.
Cease was pulled with two outs in the fifth inning — 4⅔ innings in — when manager John Schneider and the medical staff jogged out to check on him. Before Schneider arrived, Cease was seen shaking out his legs, and theScore reported he appeared to be favoring his lower body. Mason Fluharty came on in relief.
Dylan Cease Exits Blue Jays Game Favoring Lower Body
Cease exited the game with “mild left hamstring discomfort,” the Blue Jays announced.
“Dylan Cease has been removed from today’s game with an apparent injury. Just about the last thing the Blue Jays’ rotation can take right now,” MLB.com‘s Keegan Matheson wrote on social media.
Cease’s outing looked ominous shape from the start. Spencer Horwitz led off the game by depositing a Cease offering into the seats for a home run, and Oneil Cruz added a solo shot in the second. Cease still had swing-and-miss stuff working in between — six strikeouts total over his 4 2/3 innings, throwing 58 pitches, 37 for strikes, surrendering two runs on four hits and a walk, according to q DraftKings Network report. He left with Pittsburgh ahead 2-1.
Cease arrived in Toronto this past offseason as the franchise’s most expensive free-agent signing in club history — a seven-year, $210 million deal that surpassed the six-year, $150 million contract given to George Springer in 2021. Accounting for deferrals, the present-day value sits closer to $184.6 million, per Bleacher Report. Through Sunday, he led all of MLB with 92 strikeouts across 62 innings, with a 3.05 ERA and 1.21 WHIP, per theScore.
Toronto Blue Jays Rotation Already Under Siege
Sunday’s development only adds to Toronto’s nightmare. José Berríos underwent Tommy John surgery and will not return until 2027. Max Scherzer, 41, was already on the injured list with right forearm tendinitis and left ankle inflammation after a 9.64 ERA in five starts. Shane Bieber, returning from his own Tommy John procedure, only recently began a minor league rehab assignment and remains weeks away from a big league return.
Bowden Francis was lost to UCL reconstruction before the season even started, a procedure that costs him all of 2026. Toronto entered Sunday at 25-27, two games back of the Texas Rangers for the final AL Wild Card spot — a margin that grows far more precarious without its ace.
Cease spent five seasons with the Chicago White Sox before a trade sent him to San Diego, where he threw the Padres‘ second no-hitter in franchise history in July 2024 and finished fourth in NL Cy Young voting. He followed that with an 8-12 mark and 4.55 ERA in 2025, though his FIP of 3.56 pointed to stronger underlying numbers, per CBS Sports. He had made at least 32 starts in every season since 2021. The next official word from the Blue Jays will matter more than anything else.
Blue Jays Make Concerning Dylan Cease Announcement During Pirates Game