San Diego Padres starting pitcher Dylan Cease made MLB history on Thursday, tossing a no-hitter against the Washington Nationals. However, out of the 324 no-nos recorded all time, his was unique.
Cease is only the 18th pitcher to throw a no-hitter on 114 pitches or more, with nine strikeouts and three or fewer walks. That list includes Hall of Famers Nolan Ryan (twice), Dave Stewart, Randy Johnson and Roy Halladay.
No-hitters have more than doubled over the last decade, jumping from 14 between 2000-09 to 33 from 2010-19. Meanwhile, Cease’s was the 15th since 2020, but how he accomplished his feat is largely fading away.
Compared to the only other no-hitter of 2024, pitched by Ronel Blanco of the Houston Astros, Cease’s stat line looks decidedly old-school. Blanco needed only 105 pitches and threw more strikes (74 to 71) while hovering around the same strikeout (seven) to walk (two) ratio.
Six of the last seven no-hitters have come on 108 pitches or less, with Michael Lorenzen’s in 2023 (124) being the only exception. We’re nearly halfway through the 2020s, but that starkly contrasts the previous decade, which saw 27 thrown on that many pitchers or more.
Along with the uptick in analytics and greater care regarding a pitcher’s workload, outings like Cease’s are few and far between. While seeing a player top 100 pitches has yet to become unusual, few managers let their hurlers go much further.
Perhaps that’s why, despite recording games of at least 113 pitches in consecutive seasons, Cease needed to plead his case with manager Mike Shildt to stay in the game and complete his no-hitter.
Cease is only the fourth player to throw 114 pitches or more in a game this season, joining Chris Bassitt (115), Zack Wheeler (115, 114) and JP Sears (114). But the trio wasn’t nearly as efficient, averaging only 6.2 innings (five hits, three walks, one earned run) in their four outings combined.
There are plenty of no-hitters to come in baseball’s future, but it might be a while before the diamond sees another like Cease’s.