Dylan Cease will get the ball for the American League to start the 2026 MLB All-Star Game, recognizing a dominant half-season with the Toronto Blue Jays, the team announced on Sunday.
Cease joins Dave Stieb (1983, 1984), David Wells (2000) and Roy Halladay (2009) as the only Blue Jays pitchers to start an All-Star Game.
Blue Jays manager John Schneider told reporters Sunday in San Diego that he arrived on the decision Saturday night.
New York Yankees right Cam Schlittler was another top candidate to take the ball for the Midsummer Classic, but pulled out of the game earlier Sunday. Schneider, however, said that it was Cease's game regardless.
The Blue Jays broke the news to Cease, who paints in his time away from the field, with a "vintage painting" on a white board decorated with odes to the right-hander's season and personality, including oysters, cats and a baseball field.
Cease said he plans to attack the game like he would any other.
"All I can do is put the ball where it needs to go and be as nasty as I can be. That’s all I’m going to focus on and just try to have a good time with it," he said.
Cease lost a no-hitter in the ninth inning in his most recent start on Wednesday against the San Francisco Giants, and said afterwards he "would probably say yes" if asked to start the All-Star Game.
The Blue Jays' star off-season signing has a 2.56 ERA in 98.1 innings while racking up an AL-best 148 strikeouts.
Cease leads AL starters in WAR, as calculated by FanGraphs, at 3.7, checking in ahead of Schlittler (3.6) and Minnesota Twins ace Joe Ryan (3.1).
Philadelphia Phillies starter Cristopher Sanchez is getting the ball for the National League at home at Citizens Bank Park on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET / 4:30 p.m. PT on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+).
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