It has seemed that every start for Dylan Cease since early in the season has brought anticipation.
Would he finally be the dominant pitcher the Padres need, the dominant pitcher he has been in past seasons?
No start was more anticipated than Monday night’s against the Mets, three days before the trade deadline.
Because it brought an additional question:
Would it be his last start for the Padres?
In a 7-6 victory, decided by Elias Díaz’s walk-off single in the ninth inning, Cease was not dominant — at least not for more than an inning at a time.
That meant he was pretty much peak 2025 Cease.
He at times could not buy a strike. Other times, he got hit hard. Once, he literally got hit.
He struck out eight batters and threw 102 pitches in 4⅔ innings.
His final pitch was hit over the right field wall by Mark Vientos for a grand slam.
It brought to mind so many of Cease’s starts this season, where brilliance has been interspersed with periods of his practically being unable to get an out.
“There’s been one or two swings or situations that have bit him and led to a number that after five or six innings he’s sitting at three or four runs,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said Monday afternoon. “And we just haven’t been able to score five or six, which would help the cause.”
If it was his final start, Cease would not take the loss despite allowing five runs and leaving with his team down four.
Because the Padres scored five runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to take a 6-5 lead.
Three of the Padres’ four highest-leverage relievers combined to cover three scoreless innings before closer Robert Suarez surrendered a game-tying home run to Ronny Mauricio in the ninth inning.
The Padres’ half of the ninth began with Xander Bogaerts lining a single into center field. He moved to second on Jose Iglesias’ bunt, which Mets pitcher Gregory Soto fielded and threw wide of second base trying to get Bogaerts.
Jake Cronenworth followed with another bunt, this one fielded cleanly by Soto, who was near third base when he grabbed the ball and flipped it underhand to Mauricio to force out Bogaerts.
Bryce Johnson struck out before Diaz lined a single into left field to bring Iglesias racing from second well ahead of the throw from Brandon Nimmo.
As important as every result is for the Padres, who hold the National League’s final playoff spot with what is now a two-game cushion on the Reds, a win or a loss was for a night a mere subplot to the potential drama surrounding Cease.
His is the name that has surfaced most prominently as the player the Padres are most likely to trade away in order to free up some funds to pay for whoever they might acquire to make their offense better.
The various versions of Cease another team might be getting were on full display Monday, much as has been the case in a confounding season in which he has a 4.79 ERA in 22 starts. That is significantly higher than his 3.56 ERA over the previous five seasons and not at all what the Padres are paying $13.75 million for in his final year before being eligible for free agency.
Cease struck out all three Mets batters he faced in the first inning on 12 pitches.
He then began the second by getting an out before a walk, a single by Vientos and a sacrifice fly by Brett Baty put the Mets up 1-0.
The third was even more painful in a different way.
With one out, a grounder by Francisco Lindor that flew off the bat at 100 mph bounced up and hit Cease on the back of the head as he turned to try to avoid the ball.
Cease immediately crumpled to the dirt and remained sitting on the side of the mound, as the ball caromed high into the air and landed near the third base coach’s box. That allowed Lindor to race to second, where he slid in ahead of Manny Machado’s throw.
Cease was still sitting when two members of the athletic training staff and Shildt reached the mound, though he quickly rose. After a minute, he walked around the infield and then threw some warmup pitches before play resumed.
He proceeded to strike out Juan Soto for the second time and then struck out Pete Alonso to end the inning.
The Padres tied the game in the bottom of the third when, with two outs, Machado was hit by a pitch, Jackson Merrill walked and Bogaerts flared a single to left field.
Cease’s walk of Jeff McNeil to start the third was followed by Vientos launching a high fly ball to right field that sent Fernando Tatis Jr. racing back to the wall, where he stopped, planted and jumped to catch the ball atop the wall to bring back a would-be homer.
The ball Vientos sent to the deck beyond right field in the next inning would not have been catchable had Tatis had a ladder.
The Padres sent 11 batters to the plate in the fifth.
The inning began with Tatis grounding a ball to the right side that Baty, the Mets second baseman, slid to try to stop in the grass. The ball instead bounced off his knee and into foul territory as Tatis raced to second base.
Luis Arraez’s homer made it 5-3, and the Padres were just getting started.
Machado followed with a single before Merrill popped out. Bogaerts then doubled to left field to move Machado to third and drive Mets starter Frankie Montas from the game.
Reliever Huascar Brazoban got Gavin Sheets to pop out before Cronenworth beat out an infield single to score Machado, Johnson drove in Bogaerts with a single to tie the game and Diaz singled to bring in Cronenworth.
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