Angels vs. Blue Jays Prediction: Can Dylan Cease Shut Down the Halos?

On April 20th Dylan Cease shut down the Angels in the opening game of a series in Anaheim. The Blue Jays went on to win that series 2 games to 1 and held the Angels to 2 runs in each of the first 2 games; both Blue Jays wins. Tonight Cease gets another crack at the Angels as the teams open a 3 game set in Toronto.

How the Angels can beat Dylan Cease tonight.

Let's face it, beating Cease is tough to do. In 2025 he has thrown 38.1 innings and struck out 56 batters. His 3.05 ERA and 1.330 WHIP are further signs of his excellence. Toronto paid good money for Cease and so far they are happy.

However, a couple of Angels have good numbers against Cease. Zach Neto has a 1.786 OPS against Cease. Nolan Schanuel carries a 1.444. Those are in extremely small sample sizes of 8 and 7 at bats, but they are notable. The Angels offense goes as Zach Neto goes and he is heating up. If Neto can get on base at the top of the order it opens up scoring opportunities for the Angels.

Most notably, Cease does not typically go very deep in games. Those 38.1 innings cover 7 starts so Cease generally does not complete six frames per start. When the Angels last faced Cease they chased him after 5 innings and with the score tied at 2 each. At that point it turned into a battle of the bullpens and the Angels lost.

But the Angels were really good at driving up pitch counts and getting to the bullpen early this season. There are some signs of that coming back lately. The Angels best chance of beating Cease it to not have to face Cease. If they can get him out of the game early, they have a better chance to score.

Reid Detmers needs to handle Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to give the Angels a chance tonight.

Valddy Jr. is crushing left handers to the tune of a .310/.444/.552 slash line and both of his home runs this year have come against them. One of his bombs was a two run shot he hit off Detmers in their last meeting.

Beyond Jr., Myles Straw has his .333 against Detmers and Kazuma Okamoto is faring quite well against southpaws.

Overall Detmers has mixed numbers against the Blue Jays. His ERA is higher than you'd like at 5.09 but he consistently hits 5 or more strikeouts against them and the current Blue Jays lineup hits a collective .217 against him.

This season Reid Detmers has been a solid rotation piece. He will need one of his better games tonight to give the Angels a chance to stay in this game early and try to win it late.

Prediction and How to Watch

Any time a team has Dylan Cease on the mound you have to expect them to win. The Angels are under dogs for a variety of reasons with Cease and Guerrero being cheif among them. Just like the last series expect to see Toronto win the first game.

Don't get too distraught. Just like the first series the Angels have Jose Soriano lined up for the finale which gives them an edge.

First pitch is a 4:07 PM on Angels TV.

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