TORONTO — Dylan Cease headed home to Georgia for a rest when the Toronto Blue Jays' season ended, and the ace right-hander has big plans for the winter from there.
“I’m going to southern India, where Sadhguru, a Yogi, his ashram is,” he said. “I’m going to maybe spend like two weeks there, or something like that. They have such an interesting spiritual culture there, up and down the country. It's incredible.”
From there, it’s back to baseball prep with the intention to “just work on my body, get everything ready,” after a Cy-Young-calibre first season with the Blue Jays, in which he struck out 239 batters in 169 innings over 29 starts with a 2.40 ERA, but ended early due to shoulder fatigue.
A focal point will “definitely be shoulder work,” but he said he doesn’t need any medical intervention beyond that. “Just rest and working out will probably take care of it.”
“There were definitely a lot of positives,” Cease said of his season, during which he started for the American League in the All-Star Game. “Right now I kind of just have a bitter taste in my mouth because I didn't finish very strong. But I learned a lot about many different facets of the game, and it was very encouraging to have such strong spurts of success, as well. Now I want to take a look back, figure out how I can be more consistent and just continue to improve my skill.”
The 30-year-old said repeatedly throughout the year he’d made strides in both diversifying and effectively deploying his arsenal, which included less reliance on his fastball and slider and a 10-per-cent jump in his changeup usage, along with smaller increases with his curveball and sinker.
Acknowledging that Cease “didn't finish with the same power that he had” — his average fastball velocity dipped from a peak of 98.4 m.p.h. on May 8 and 19 to a career-low 93.6 m.p.h. Sept. 18 — GM Ross Atkins said, “We have no concerns.”
“It was more of just bad timing than anything else, where he had some shoulder inflammation,” Atkins continued. “He maintained his delivery. He maintained his routine. He was pushing to pitch on a regular rotation. Earlier in the season, trying to manage (the rotation) wasn't Dylan-Cease-focused. We were trying to manage for everyone, how we could get everyone through the season.”
Closer Varland
Louis Varland stepped in as closer 3½ weeks into the season and dominated in his new role, earning an all-star nod while finishing tied for fifth in the majors at 35 saves, the 10th most ever by a Blue Jays reliever.
Not every set-up man transitions as seamlessly in handling the ninth, but Varland, who only blew two save opportunities, looked comfortable from the jump.
“I try to treat it all the same. It could suit my personality. It's a matter of opinion. It's fun, though, closing out the game and securing the win,” he said. “Obviously it went well — I want to carry all of it into next year. It was a great pitching for these fans, for this team, for these coaches, for these teammates. Hopefully have this calibre of season next year and get to where we want to be.”
Varland logged 78 innings, tied for 12th among big-league relievers, in 71 games, which was tied for 16th while posting a 1.27 ERA and 1.00 WHIP with 87 strikeouts. Key to his progression was refining his changeup, gaining enough confidence with it for the usage to surge from 4.7 per cent to 18 per cent while becoming his second-most used pitch against lefties, slightly ahead of his curveball.
“A lot of things went my way, a lot of things were in the right spot for a long time this year,” he said. “Just keep doing what I'm doing, trust who and what I need to trust, learn from the season, build off that this off-season and take it to spring training.”
He’ll be a top contender for the new Reliever of the Year Award voted on by the BBWAA, along with Canadian Cade Smith of the Cleveland Guardians.
Gimenez settles in at SS
Andres Gimenez knew moving from second base to shortstop would be more physically demanding, and he prepared for that during the off-season, especially as he prepared to play for Venezuela at the World Baseball Classic.
Even still, the toll of 1,179 innings over 148 games at shortstop was “more than I expected, for sure, especially (making the) longer toss from shortstop to first,” he said. “Definitely feeling the difference. But I know exactly what I need to work on to come back much stronger.”
To that end, Gimenez — who played 15 games during the regular season and 18 more in the playoffs at short in 2025 after Bo Bichette was injured, his first big-league action there since 18 games in 2022 — plans “to do shoulder programs to get stronger in my arm, just to have more durability throughout the season,” and work “with my legs, getting stronger.”
The 28-year-old fought through tightness in his legs at different points of the season but defensively still posted the third-best outs-above-average among shortstops at 18, trailing only Bobby Witt Jr. of the Royals at 24 and Masyn Winn of the Cardinals at 19.
He also ranked third in Fielding Run Value, a measure combining various fielding categories to approximate how many runs a defender saved relative to average, with 15, despite ranking 20th in average arm strength at 85.9 m.p.h.
“Obviously happy,” he said of how he felt about his defensive play. “I worked a lot and accepted the challenge to play shortstop, a new position for me full-time in the big-leagues. I've been able to help the team. That's the most gratifying thing for me. It gives me more motivation to get ready for next year.”
At the plate, Gimenez batted .244/.291/.359, each better than his 2025 numbers, while his 59 RBIs were second on the Blue Jays, and his 20 stolen bases in 24 attempts led the club.
