OverDrive - Cease on signing with the Blue Jays, the role in Toronto and his excitement for the team

Episode Date: December 15, 2025

Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Dylan Cease joined OverDrive to discuss his signing with the Blue Jays, Toronto being an ideal team for his career, the importance of a strong clubhouse, his family roots into baseball, the strikeouts consistency, the outlook of the team and more.

IHart Radio, everything holiday, all in one place. From 24-7 Christmas music to the stories behind the Christmas hits with Drew Savage. Listen to the podcast on the free IHartRadio app, your destination for all things Christmas. Merry Christmas! These are the songs that get you in the spirit. All I want for Christmas is you. Keep listening from all your Christmas favorites. Dylan Cease of the Toronto Blue Jays, and we began by asking him,

hey, it's been about a week now. What does it feel like to be a Blue Jay? Yeah, it feels great. You know, I mean, I haven't, I guess it's a little awkward sort of talking on behalf of the team and whatnot because I haven't been a part of anything yet, and I haven't really proven myself in any way yet, but I'm excited for the opportunity. And, yeah, I mean, it's very special. Dylan, can you take us through your quick kind of one, two, three checklist?

I think any athlete, I mean, just the way I look at it, number one would be money all the time. If the money's right, then you go to two or three. So if money's around one or two, how do you go through the checklist after that? Is it winning? Is it clubhouse culture? What was your checklist like? Yeah, I mean, those are all factors. You know, it's the business side of it.

For me, it was the business. how are they going to develop and help me be the most consistent player I can be? And then, you know, does the team have a good chance of winning every year? And the Blue Jays pretty easily checked all those boxes. So in which way, like when you say they can get you, like you're a veteran guy, you've had 200 plus strikeouts for five straight seasons. You're healthy all the time. You're on the bump every five days.

How can the Jays get that even better? Like in which way do you see this improving? And how did they actually pitch that idea? idea to you where you said okay that's what I want to hear yeah I mean they set you down and they show you you know it's honestly really impressive they show you you know hey man if you change your grip with this pitch you can get this kind of movement and and we see you know and I'm not getting into too much detail there with you but um you know they they can basically by how you release the ball and and different things that you do can tell

you hey we think you can add this bitch do this do this um or we think we can improve what's already there or we think you we can help either mechanics things like that and and uh you know at a high level when you start winning in the margins and you start being more consistent with with things like that and you have people behind you that will maximize um you know that's that's what it's all about so i was i was pretty blown away with what they've got on the on the development side and that was that's important to me yet i have been around for a while but If you're not willing to evolve and continue to learn and grow in the game, it's going to pass you by. So, you know, I really just, I want to be a consistent top-the-end, top-end pitcher, you know, not one-year great, one-year-average, one-year great.

That's pretty cool stuff. Like any pushback from you or you said, actually, I'll continue to do what I've been doing, and I'm not going to change on that front? No, no, not at all. No, 100% commitment. Not at all. percent in. Chatterwood Dillon Seas. Go ahead, Noodles.

When you sign the deal, who's the first on the team to reach out to you? Good question. Maybe Ross or Schneide, maybe. I'd have to go look at the call log. I mean, it was, I had a million people from every walk of life reaching out at that point. So, but yeah, I mean, you know, all the leadership positions for sure. well this team has an impeccable reputation right now in terms of their clubhouse and the connection all the players have you know i've lived here my whole life but you hear it sometimes you don't know

if you really believe it this one it really lands you know whether it's the players the staff the media the fans like everyone seemed to pick up on that um i'm curious if if you've picked up on that so far and how you think you can contribute to what seems to be a great clubhouse yeah that's all i heard about it you know i mean And that is important. You know, I mean, there wasn't a negative thing about the organization in general that I heard. And on top of it, to hear that the clubhouse was as strong and together as it was is, you know, I mean, it makes sense. I mean, they almost won the World Series.

It did, you know, it's, I think the proof is in the pudding. Yeah, and for me to add to it, it's really, I think, by just, I don't know, being myself and just assimilating into the culture and not trying to make things about myself, really just trying to play. in the mindset, in the sense of sacrificing for the team and doing what needs to be done. And it's really that simple. I really don't want things about me. I just want to perform and do my job well. So, Dylan, what was your impression of Toronto before you joined the organization? I mean, you know, Jeff talked about checking things off as far as obviously signing the deal,

money, culture, all of that type of stuff. But from an opposing player, what was your impression of, you know, flying into Toronto, playing the Blue Jays, the city or the culture that made it attractive outside of the other things that we talked about. Yeah, it's always been cool. You know, I haven't had the opportunity to explore Toronto too much, but, you know, it always, it always feels a little exotic, a little foreign when you fly in. And, you know, I mean, that's one thing is I've really spent more time now trying to learn about the culture and, you know, learning about what's important to Canadians and really

what is behind Toronto. You know, it's obviously a major big city, and, you know, I still don't know, you know, probably one hundredth of what I'm going to even learn this year, but, you know, I've always enjoyed my time there, and I'm really looking forward to, you know, experiencing the culture and, yeah, seeing, you know, what's important to you guys and just being a part of the city. Well, you're going to pick up on how much we love that 1992 Blue Jay team, and I know you're an Atlanta guy, you're born a few years after that, but I'm curious how much you heard about that from your parents, your aunts, uncles, grandparents, you know, how much did you, how much

does that still burn, the Jays winning, and beating the Braves? We focused on 95 more than anything before that. As you should, you did get them back, I guess, not necessarily against the Jays, but there is that history, which is pretty cool. And, you know, I know you grew up where your dad, you think you had a twin brother, and he was coaching you guys all the way up. I want to say I read that your grandmother was a professional player at some point. Yeah, yeah, she did.

I'm not sure if it's exactly like a league of their own, but essentially I think it was pretty much that. Yeah, that's pretty cool. So how much do you lean on, you know, that your family, your friends, and kind of helping you get into the position that you're currently in? Yeah, and, you know, growing up, I mean, my dad, we would go out and he'd hit me ground balls all day, throw to me all day, catch my bullpins. And then I had, you know, I have a twin brother. So he would sit in the bucket and, you know, I would pretend to be a big leaguer and he'd be a catcher

and then vice versa all day. We would, I mean, with a ball, stick ball, hitting, you know, it was just nonstop, you know, basically playing and practicing and, you know, doing baseball. So my parents were very dedicated to it and they knew it was something that we enjoyed and it's something that, well, they didn't really have to push us very hard because I think we loved it. They always supported us and, you know, made sure that we had everything that we needed and we were heading in the right direction. Well, it's obviously led to a great career and a big signing up here in Toronto. We're chatting with Dylan Cis. And, you know, I mentioned your stats earlier. You have a reputation for being reliable, for being healthy, over 200 plus strikeouts, five straight

seasons. How much work goes into that? Like, how do you prepare for a new season and get your body ready so that you can be available because it's such a theme in pro sports today can a guy play is he going to get through a rotation is you know whatever sport it is football hockey baseball basketball how have you managed to kind of get through the grind yeah i mean you definitely have to set yourself up in the off season by by preparing and lifting weights and doing everything that needs to be done and then uh you know in the season it's maybe a little bit less oriented on the weights and maybe more oriented on recovery and really i mean i've always been around good staffs that help take care of me and you get your massages you do your shoulder work and uh you know for me i take pride in

taking the ball no matter what so there's a lot of times where you got a pitch where it doesn't feel good or maybe you were sick or are sick or didn't sleep or whatever it is and it's it's uh you know just just a part of of the job really so you know unless something is seriously wrong i'm going to take the ball and i'm going to try to find a way and um i can't really take all the credit for that you know there's a lot of people along the way that that uh have helped me do that and and uh still to this day are helping me do that with dylan c's yeah and you mentioned you know off the top there dylan we'll get you out of here on this question that you know felt a little bit awkward talking on behalf of the team because you haven't you know joined them yet

and you haven't had a chance to prove yourself when you when you say you use that term prove yourself you know like how much of it is i got to prove it to my teammates i got to prove it to ownership who just gave me this contract, all this money, I got to prove it to the fans who are now so excited to have you up here. Yeah, for sure. I want to earn people's respect. And, you know, at the end of the day, I'm not going to be perfect over this contract. There's going to be times where I don't perform. And I know that, but, you know, I want to show up and I want to earn people's respect, you know, and it's really, yeah, I mean, it's as simple as that. Obviously, I want to go out and throw no hitter every day and do all amazing things that are part of a season but it's uh you know

it's a game of failure it's a it's a game of you know mental fortitude and not giving up so i want to do i want to have the right process and the right mindset with everything and and just go in and give everything i have consistently and that's why i'm excited to be a part of a clubhouse like this and a culture like this because it makes it it that much easier when you do fail to get back up it makes it that much easier when you're going through the hard times and uh you know having people that you trust, which I'm still in the process of building that with the staff. You know, I mean, they're going to learn to trust me and my personality, and I'm going to learn to trust them and how they operate.

And, yeah, I mean, it makes it, like I said, with the development side, I mean, it makes it that much easier to go into a season confident and handle things that need to be handled because there is that team behind you, there is that support behind you. And at the end of the day, I really just want to perform and win, you know, and I feel like this is a team and a culture that is, you know, pretty much built on that. Well, we're excited to have you up here. I know I can speak for Blue Jay fans, too. They can't wait to obviously see you in the spring and then see you once you get back up here.

Tons of buzz about this team, as you can imagine, you know, the 11th inning game seven of the World Series. It's right there. There's people waiting to get it over the top, and hopefully you'll help them do just that. Congrats on the deal. Welcome to Toronto, and we'll catch up again in the spring. Awesome. Thank you for having me. There he is, Dylan Cease.

IHart Radio, everything holiday, all in one place. From 24-7 Christmas music to the stories behind the Christmas hits with Drew Savage. Listen to the podcast on the free IHart Radio app, your destination for all things Christmas. Merry Christmas. These are the songs that get you in the spirit. for all your Christmas favorites.