Oddsmakers Predicting Dylan Cease Will Take Step Towards Stardom in 2022

The start of the MLB season is just a few days away and time is running out to make those preseason picks. One that I have had my eye on for a bit now is the race for the AL Cy Young Award. In particular, I have been focused on Dylan Cease of the White Sox as a dark horse candidate to shine brighter than everyone in 2022. As of this writing, Cease is +2000 to win the AL Cy Young Award this year behind guys like Robbie Ray and Shane McClanahan. Let’s take a quick look at the current odds for this prop at WynnBET Sportsbook. 

• Gerrit Cole +450
• Shane Bieber +800
• Lucas Giolito +1200
• Robbie Ray +1500
• Alek Manoah +2000
• Shane McClanahan +2000
• Dylan Cease +2000
• Frankie Montas +2000
• Kevin Gausman +2000
• Lancy Lynn +2000
• Justin Verlander +2500

As you can see, there is a lot of competition at the top of the AL, but Cease is right in the mix with the second-tier hopefuls. Coming off a breakout 2021 season, it will be interesting to see just how high Cease’s ceiling is. He rebounded from a poor season during the shortened 2020 season and could move into elite status this year with a strong showing. 

Cease started 32 games last year and posted a 3.91 ERA and 1.25 WHIP in 226 innings pitched. He won 13 games and struck out 226 compared to 68 walks. It was a huge improvement over his 4.01 ERA and 1.44 WHIP in 2020. So far in the preseason, Cease is 1-1 with a 1.29 ERA and a whip of just 0.71. While preseason stats are tricky to apply to the regular season projections, I can say confidently that Cease is in good shape to make his mark on the AL. 

Last season Cease became one of four players in MLB history to average at least 12.3 strikeouts per nine innings while making at least 30 stars. The other three names on that list are Randy Johnson, Chris Sale, and Gerrit Cole. 

Cease makes a very attractive preseason bet on the AL Cy Young as long as he can work a little deeper into games and keep a lid on his wild pitches.