Sports
Sources: Jays, Cease reach 7-year, $210M deal
Free agent starting pitcher Dylan Cease, who has made at least 32 starts in each of the past five seasons, reached a seven-year, $210 million deal with the Toronto Blue Jays, sources told ESPN’s Jeff Passan on Wednesday.
With the deal, which is pending a physical, the Blue Jays add to an already formidable team that won the American League pennant and advanced to the World Series, losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers in seven games.
Cease, who turns 30 next month, has been a reliable front-line starter for the past five seasons, ranking fourth in that span in pitcher WAR, ahead of Tarik Skubal, Max Fried and Framber Valdez.
The right-hander has alternated between dominant seasons and, given the quality of his stuff, disappointing ones. In 2022 and 2024, Cease finished second and fourth in Cy Young voting, respectively, while going 28-19 with a 2.84 ERA. In 2023 and 2025, he went 15-21 with a 4.57 ERA.
Cease has vertically oriented movement because of his higher slot, a fastball/breaking ball-heavy power approach (at least 80% fastball/slider to both right-handed and left-handed batters) and an elevated walk rate at times paired with a big whiff rate.
His slider in particular fell off this past season, going from the game’s most valuable by runs above average in 2024 to opposing hitters slugging .374 against it in 2025. Still, though, Cease is coming off posting a career-best strikeout rate of 29.8% and putting up a fielding independent pitching score of 3.56, a slight improvement when compared with his average from 2021 to 2024.
Those peripherals, when coupled with his age and the deficiencies of the other available starters, made him one of the most attractive pitchers in free agency.
Cease was tendered a $22.025 million qualifying offer by the Padres, which he declined by the Nov. 18 deadline. Because he signed with a new team, San Diego will receive a compensatory draft pick after the fourth round.
A sixth-round pick from the Chicago Cubs out of Georgia in 2014, Cease originally went to the neighboring Chicago White Sox alongside Eloy Jimenez in a 2017 trade headlined by Jose Quintana, then was acquired by the San Diego Padres for a package of prospects in March 2024.
In five years as a full-time starter from 2021 to 2025, Cease led the majors in strikeouts (1,106) but also in walks (361) and wild pitches (51).
ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez and Kiley McDaniel contributed to this report.
Undefeated Nebraska earned the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA women’s volleyball tournament bracket released Sunday.
The five-time national champion Huskers (30-0) have dominated this season, dropping just seven sets. They lead Division I in hitting percentage at .352.
Dani Busboom Kelly, who won NCAA titles as both a Nebraska player and assistant, took over at her alma mater this season after longtime Huskers coach John Cook retired. Busboom Kelly led Louisville to the NCAA final in 2024, where the Cardinals lost to Penn State.
The other No. 1 seeds are Kentucky, Texas and Pitt. The Wildcats have won one NCAA title, and the Longhorns have four. The Panthers reached the final four the past four seasons but lost in the semifinals each time.
Pitt and Stanford finished tied atop the ACC at 18-2, and the Cardinal won their head-to-head matchup 3-2 at Stanford on Nov. 14. But the Panthers’ overall body of work secured them the last No. 1 seed, while nine-time NCAA champion Stanford is the No. 2 seed in Texas’ region.
SEC regular-season and tournament champion Kentucky defeated Texas 3-2 in the conference tournament final. They would face each other in the national semifinals should they advance that far.
Defending national champion Penn State, the only school that has appeared in every NCAA tournament dating back to the event’s start in 1981, is a No. 8 seed in Texas’ quarter of the bracket. St. Thomas (Minnesota) and Toledo are both making their first appearance in the tournament.
The Big 12 led all leagues with 10 teams in the field, the Big Ten has nine, the ACC seven and the SEC five.
Early-round matches will be held from Dec. 4 to 6 on campus sites. The regionals, scheduled for Dec. 11-14, will be hosted by the four highest seeds still standing in each quarter of the bracket.
The final four is at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri, for the third time in the tournament’s history. It was there that Penn State won the championship in 2010 and Nebraska won its most recent title in 2017.
The national semifinals are Dec. 18 (ESPN), and the championship match is Dec. 21 (ABC).
The Commanders return from their bye week searching for their first victory since Oct. 5. It won’t be easy against the Broncos, who have won eight straight.
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Ruben Amorim has said that Manchester United are “stealing” set-piece routines from other clubs after goals from two free-kicks helped earn a valuable 2-1 win over Crystal Palace.
United came from behind at Selhurst Park thanks to second-half goals from Joshua Zirkzee and Mason Mount, both of which came from Bruno Fernandes set plays.
Amorim’s team have now scored 10 Premier League goals from set-pieces this season — joint most with table-toppers Arsenal.
“We work a lot,” Amorim said when asked about United’s improvement at set-pieces.
“We have more time to work, we work a lot and we learn a lot in England.
“I think you are used to seeing that, but when you come for the Premier League you learn a lot with other teams how to do it and we are stealing a lot of things to score goals.”
United looked destined for another set-back following Monday’s defeat to 10-man Everton when Crystal Palace went in at half-time 1-0 up thanks to a retaken penalty from Jean-Philippe Mateta.
But there was marked improvement in their performance after the break as Amorim’s team recorded just their second league win away from home since March.
“I just said to the players we need to be more alive and you can feel that,” Amorim said.
– Mason Mount, Joshua Zirkzee inspire Man United comeback win at Crystal Palace
– Zirkzee leads Man United comeback in game of two halves vs. Palace
– Premier League table
“So if you are more alive, you are in more places, you are near the ball more often. I think everyone did that.
“But we also need to understand that the opponent was tired also in the second half.
“And when you increase the rhythm and the opponent gets tired a little bit, suffers right away a goal, you felt that we had the control of the game and that’s it.”
Huskers earn top overall seed in volleyball tourney
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