Dylan Cease keeps topping himself, and his latest gem might be the best individual season the Toronto Blue Jays have going right now.
On July 8, Cease came within an inning of the second no-hitter in franchise history before allowing a single to lead off the ninth against the Giants.
Two starts later, he somehow outdid it, going the distance in a 6-0 shutout win over Boston, allowing just one hit with 12 strikeouts on a season-high 120 pitches.
It marked only the sixth complete game shutout in baseball this season and Toronto's first one-hitter since Shaun Marcum back in August of 2010.
Through 19 starts, Cease sits third in the AL with a 2.46 ERA and leads all of baseball outside one pitcher with 167 strikeouts across 113.1 innings, remarkable given he missed over two weeks with a hamstring strain.
He leads the AL by a wide margin in strikeouts per nine at 13.26 and opponent batting average at .186, trailing only Cam Schlittler in AL pitcher fWAR.
That's real validation for a seven-year, $210 million contract that came with plenty of questions given Cease's inconsistent track record before arriving in Toronto.
Why Schlittler still holds the edge in this race
Schlittler has been even better by traditional numbers, posting a 2.07 ERA with a 0.93 WHIP across 130.1 innings for a Yankees team that's gone 15-7 in his starts.
FanDuel has Schlittler as the favorite at -130, with Cease second at +135, and Schlittler's advantage in wins, quality starts and WHIP explains why.
But several advanced metrics favor Cease. His .260 xwOBA leads the league, and his hard-hit rate of 32.2 percent sits well below Schlittler's 39.4 percent, evidence he's generating weaker contact overall.
Toronto's own record complicates the conversation too, sitting at 48-58 and five and a half games out of the final playoff spot, a reminder that this award doesn't require team success but often factors into how voters weigh a season.
It's a bit like two artists creating masterpieces in completely different mediums, both brilliant, but judged by slightly different standards depending on who's scoring.
Does Cease's superior advanced metrics outweigh Schlittler's better traditional numbers and stronger team record, or does this race come down to which storyline voters find more compelling down the stretch?
With over a third of the season left, this two-man race between Cease and Schlittler still has plenty of room to shift before anything gets decided.
Should Dylan Cease win the AL Cy Young over Cam Schlittler based on the numbers so far?
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