The Toronto Blue Jays splashed $210 million to land Dylan Cease in the offseason, and Tuesday night proved again why the Jays were right with their decision. The Blue Jays dominated the Boston Red Sox with a 6-1 win, and Cease tossed five scoreless innings with seven SOs. However, despite his team winning easily, Cease was not happy with his own performance.

His disappointment had nothing to do with the final score, but everything to do with his poor command and high pitch count.

“Dylan Cease says that his start tonight “definitely wasn’t pretty,” and he called it “not sustainable” multiple times. Five shutout innings will win you a lot of ball games, but Cease clearly wants these to be 6-7IP starts more often,” MLB insider Keegan Matheson quoted Cease.

Cease recently missed two weeks after suffering a mild left hamstring strain in May. Although he successfully returned against the Philadelphia Phillies, pitching 6 innings and recording 11 SOs, his second outing on Tuesday exposed his lingering struggle on the mound. In the first two innings, Cease threw 50 pitches and couldn’t prevent the Red Sox from loading all the bases. However, just as it was thought that the Jays would have another busy bullpen day, Cease proved why he is an elite. 

Despite allowing four hits and walking four, Cease ended his 5 innings without surrendering a run. Cease offered several opportunities to the Red Sox lineup to score, but Boston was 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position against him. Jarren Duran’s hit in the first inning loaded the bases, but Boston failed to leverage it. In total, the Red Sox stayed 1 for 12 with runners in scoring position and left 13 runners on base against Dylan Cease (4-3) and four relievers.

So, while Cease’s 0 ER and 7 SOs from 5 IP look dominant, his lack of command and missing strike zone are still evident. The reason why John Schneider pulled him out after the 5th inning.

“Cease can lose the zone at times, but he did a pretty good job,” Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy said.

This lack of control is exactly what he has been trying to fix. During his statistically challenging 2025 season, high walk rates and long at-bats regularly forced him out of games early.

Dylan Cease pitching till the 7th inning would be a welcome move for the Blue Jays, considering their battered rotation. Jose Berrios and Cody Ponce are already out of the season with injuries, and Shane Bieber is still rehabbing. So, the Jays are in a dearth of quality starters. If Cease could extend his dominance till late, the bullpen would stay fresh.

Amid this chaos, Dylan Cease revealed an unlikely secret to unlock success.

Dylan Cease embraces yoga to excel on the field

Last year, Cease achieved 200+ strikeouts for the fifth consecutive season, and this dominance is coming by integrating yoga into his daily routine.

He reportedly relies on a dedicated yoga and meditation routine to maintain his mental focus and physical resilience on the mound. Cease practices a 20-minute daily regimen of breathing techniques and meditation learned through the Isha Foundation in central Tennessee. He wears the number 84 on his jersey as a direct homage to the 84 traditional postures in yoga.

During the grueling MLB season, he practices meditation and breathwork four to five times per week to stay centered through the ups and downs of baseball. So, just when MLB’s grueling season demands a lot across the year, Cease ensures to stay calm and composed. When he loses the strike zone and the bases get loaded, as they did on Tuesday, his mental training helps him escape the inning without panicking or giving up runs.

This year, the Jays would demand much more from Dylan Cease. He is currently the pitching leader, and fans would love to see the same calm and composed Cease doing his job till October.