On Wednesday, we learned that five members of the Toronto Blue Jays are up for American League Gold Glove Awards.

Also on Wednesday, we learned that starting pitcher Dylan Cease is a finalist for the MLB "Most Outstanding Pitcher" award, which is decided through the MLB Players Association.

No, it's not the Cy Young Award, but it could serve as a precursor to that, where Cease is expected to be named a finalist there too. He's expected to fall short of that though, with New York Yankees' right-hander Cam Schlittler expected to win.

Regardless, it was a fantastic first year in Toronto for Cease, who signed a seven-year, $210 million deal in the offseason before the 2026 campaign.

Cease served as the leader of a beaten up starting rotation for the Jays, going 11-6 with a 2.40 ERA. He made 29 starts, falling just short of the 30-start threshold. He struck out 239 batters in just 169.0 innings and he led the American League in hits/9 (5.8), homers/9 (0.6) and strikeouts/9 (12.7).

His control still eludes him at times, as his 4.2 walks/9 was actually his highest since 2023, but his swing-and-miss stuff is so good that he was able to work around it.

First things first, Cease needs to get fully healthy. He missed his last two starts of the season with right shoulder inflammation. While the expectation is that he's fine and there is no need for offseason surgery, it certainly isn't the way that he wanted to head into his offseason.

After a few weeks off, he'll get back into his program and make sure that everything checks out OK. Remember, the MLB lockout is likely to hit on Dec. 2, and at that point, Cease can have no contact with team trainers.

Cease will be at the top of it, that's for certain, and he'll obviously get the start on Opening Day - whenever that is. Jose Soriano and Trey Yesavage will be there too, with Cody Ponce. And then the No. 5 spot will have a lot of competition among youngsters and players rehabbing from injury.

Bowden Francis, Jose Berrios, Ricky Tiedemann, Jake Bloss and prospect Nolan Perry could all have a reasonable claim to it. Of course, there's also free agency and the trade market too. Shane Bieber has already indicated that he wants to be back with the team as well.