On Wednesday, Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Dylan Cease was named as a finalist for the "Most Outstanding Pitcher" of the season, which is given out through the MLB Players Association.

While the award is not associated with the Cy Young Award, it's certainly a precursor to it. The right-hander, who signed a seven-year deal with the Blue Jays before the 2026 season, is expected to finish in the top two of the American League Cy Young Award when that's given out later this offseason.

When you look at Cease's numbers and season, they were truly incredible. The right-hander pitched to a 2.40 ERA, he struck out 239 batters in just 169.0 innings and led the AL in hits/9, strikeouts/9 and homers/9.

But for as good as the year was, there's still some room for improvement for the veteran. His 4.2 walks/9 were the highest of his career since 2023, and are also above his career average of 3.9/9.

It's a rather simple thought process, but the best advice I ever got was "you can give up walks or you can give up hits, but you cannot give up both."

Well, Cease executed that to perfection. He did give up walks, but he suppressed contact so well that he was able to get around it.

But that's not necessarily the best plan moving forward. After all, Cease is 30 years old and he'll be 31 in December. He's on the wrong side of 30, and he's started 29 games or more in each of the last six seasons. He's been a workhorse, but at some point, he's going to break down.

Even if it's just a little, Cease is going to get more hittable. And as you get more hittable, you won't be able to just strike your way out of every problem. Furthermore, these high-walk outings lead to higher pitch counts, which leads to shorter outings and higher stress.

No one is saying that Cease needs to become Greg Maddux, but as he ages, he'll need to refine his walk rate more. You can't simply rely on velocity to blow hitters away for the rest of your career. For instance, Cease had a 3.1 walk/9 in 2024 and a 3.8 in 2025. If he could just get it back down in that range even, it would be a big help.

Remember, Cease needs to get healthy. He missed his last two starts of the season with right shoulder inflammation. No surgery is scheduled for this offseason.