Dylan Cease Loses 9th-Inning No-Hitter Bid in 10-0 Blue Jays Win

Q: After 36 years of close calls, are the Blue Jays the most cursed franchise when it comes to no-hitters?

No. The Blue Jays have a strong case as one of baseball’s unluckiest no-hit franchises, but not the most cursed by the numbers. Dylan Cease’s near-miss in San Francisco fits a painful pattern. Toronto still has only one no-hitter in franchise history, Dave Stieb’s on Sept. 2, 1990, and the club has repeatedly lost bids in the ninth inning. Stieb himself had multiple heartbreaks before finally finishing one. Since then, Roy Halladay, Dustin McGowan, Brandon Morrow, Marco Estrada, Bowden Francis and now Cease have all come painfully close. That said, the Blue Jays’ drought is not the longest active one in MLB. Toronto’s stretch is 5,548 games since Stieb’s no-hitter, which ranks second-longest. Cleveland holds the longer active drought, going back to Len Barker’s perfect game on May 15, 1981, a span of 7,055 games. Historically, the Phillies endured an even longer drought between 1906 and 1964. What makes Toronto feel especially cursed is the combination of rarity and drama. The Blue Jays are not just waiting a long time; they keep getting to the edge and losing it late. Cease gave up the hit on his 118th pitch with one out in the ninth, extending a franchise history full of almosts rather than adding a second no-hitter. So the fairest answer is that the Blue Jays may be the most snakebitten in how their misses happen, but Cleveland remains the most cursed if the standard is the longest drought.

Q: Was chasing history worth risking the arm of the Blue Jays' new $210 million ace pitcher?

Probably yes — but only because the risk appears to have been controlled rather than reckless. Cease was at 115 pitches entering the ninth and finished at a career-high 118 before Heliot Ramos broke up the no-hit bid. That is a heavy workload for any starter, especially one the Blue Jays just committed seven years and $210 million to. In modern baseball, clubs often pull pitchers in similar spots to protect arms, and there is a long record of managers ending no-hit bids around 100 pitches for exactly that reason. But the facts here cut the other way. Cease is 30, has a reputation for durability, has made at least 32 starts in each of the past five seasons, and had already thrown a 114-pitch no-hitter with San Diego in 2024. Schneider said Cease’s stuff and velocity still looked strong, and Cease himself pushed to stay in, saying, “Whatever it takes.” The timing also mattered: the All-Star break is near, giving him extra recovery time. There is also no evidence from the reporting that Cease suffered an arm injury in this outing. The concern was theoretical risk, not a known physical problem during the game. That distinction matters. So the Blue Jays took a calculated gamble on a rare moment in franchise history, not an open-ended one. Reasonable people can argue Schneider should have protected the investment more aggressively, but given Cease’s durability, his prior experience, and the lack of visible distress, the decision was defensible.

3 articles · Updated · Sportsnet.ca · Jul 9

Heliot Ramos’s single to center in the bottom of the ninth broke up Cease’s no-hit bid with three outs left, after the Blue Jays right-hander had carried it into the final inning against San Francisco.
Cease finished with one hit allowed, three walks and 11 strikeouts over eight-plus scoreless innings, throwing a career-high 118 pitches before leaving to a standing ovation.
Toronto still completed a 10-0 victory, but Dave Stieb remains the only Blue Jay to throw a no-hitter, having done so in 1990.
The near-miss drew immediate praise from fans on social media and extended the franchise’s 36-year wait for a second no-hitter.