Will Dylan Cease end his remarkable three-game goalless streak?

On a humid, 83-degree day in the nation’s capital, Dylan Cease was sweating through his San Diego Padres jersey, now more of a dark gray. The ninth inning had just begun and Cease had yet to allow a hit. He had thrown 103 pitches—a low enough total, even in today’s game, to have a chance of going no-hitters.

Ildemaro Vargas struggled for eight pitches, committing five errors, before finally getting out to second base. Jacob Young hit a curveball off the first pitch and routinely got out to shortstop. C.J. Abrams took a curveball low and infield and then hit another curveball, lifting a soft line drive to right field.

With that final inning, Seas notched his first career no-hitter — only the second in team history after Joe Musgrove did so in 2021 — and completed one of the greatest three-game stretches in major league history.

On July 13, he allowed one hit with 11 strikeouts in six scoreless innings to defeat the Atlanta Braves. Then in his next start on July 20, he allowed one hit with 10 strikeouts in seven scoreless innings to defeat the Cleveland Guardians.

Now, he’s gone the distance, striking out nine batters on his way to the first no-hitter of his career.

“I first started thinking about not hitting after the sixth inning,” said Sease, who pitched 8⅔ innings with the White Sox in a 2022 game before seeing a no-hitter attempt by current teammate Luis Arraiz. “But the strikeout count was high, so it was like, ‘Oh…’”

He threw the first run in the seventh inning but was able to get through the inning in 16 pitches. He told manager Mike Shildt that he still felt good but thought he should get through the eighth inning in 105 pitches. With an easy nine-pitch inning, he had room to get out in the ninth.

Surprisingly, this was Seas’ sixth start this season with at least six innings allowing one hit or fewer. That’s a major league record — 10 pitchers, including Seas in 2022, are tied for second with four such outings in a season. That may not be as impressive as it sounds; since pitchers rarely throw complete games (or even eight innings) anymore, seven of those 10 other pitchers have done so since 2021. Still, it does point to how tough Seas is to contend with, especially his curveball, which he threw 60 times on Thursday. He leads the majors in strikeouts; batters are hitting just .191 against him (though his earned run percentage is a bit high for a Cy Young contender at 3.50).

Now, about his three-game streak. Saying that Cease is one of the greatest players of all time is a bit of a stretch because you’re comparing him to players who have gone three complete games in a row in the past. However, he is the first player to go three consecutive games of at least six innings and allow one hit or fewer. Let’s list some other candidates, excluding the dead ball era:

• Johnny Vander Meer, Cincinnati Reds 1938 (June 5-15): Vander Meer was the only pitcher to go scoreless in back-to-back games, allowing three hits and one run in his first start before the first scoreless game. But he also had 14 runs and 17 strikeouts over the three games. Game average in three games: 84.7

• Sandy Koufax, Los Angeles Dodgers 1963 (July 3-12): Won three straight without conceding a single, struck out 26. Game average: 89.0

• Koufax, Dodgers, 1965 (September 25-October 2): With the Dodgers in contention for the title (they won by two games over the San Francisco Giants), Koufax managed to win two games, allow one run, and strike out 38 batters in his last three games. Game point average: 88.3

• Bob Gibson, 1968 St. Louis Cardinals (June 15–26): Best three-game streak of Gibson’s 1.12 ERA season: Three straight scoreless games with 26 strikeouts and 13 hits allowed (part of a five-game scoreless streak). Game average: 86.7

• Nolan Ryan, Los Angeles Angels 1972 (Aug. 22-31): Three consecutive scoreless games—one of them 12 innings, boosting his game average. Overall streak: 30 innings, 13 strikeouts, 13 walks, 31 runs. Game average: 89.3

• Dwight Gooden, New York Mets 1984 (September 7-17): The 19-year-old rookie hit 11 and then 16 in consecutive games, one of which was another scoreless game. Game average: 87.7

• Randy Johnson, Seattle Mariners 1997 (May 28-June 8): Three straight scoreless games, including two with 15 strikeouts, and only seven hits allowed. Game average: 89.7

• Roger Clemens, Toronto Blue Jays 1998 (August 20-30): Three clean hits, three clean hits, two clean hits with strikeouts totals of six, 18, and seven, respectively. Game Score Average: 90.3

• Pedro Martinez, Boston Red Sox, 1999 (August 30-September 10): This was part of a ridiculous eight-game streak where Martinez struck out at least 11 batters in each game (107 strikeouts in 62 innings for a 1.16 ERA). He allowed one run in six innings with 11 strikeouts, zero runs in eight innings with 15 strikeouts, and then one run in his famous 17-strikeout game against the New York Yankees. Game point average: 86.0

• Max Scherzer, 2015 Washington Nationals (June 14–26): 16 hits, 10 strikeouts (lost a perfect game when he struck out the 27th batter), 8 strikeouts. Game average: 89.3

• Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers 2015 (July 18-Aug. 1): Kershaw was in top form. During this period, he allowed no runs in 25 innings with just 8 hits, 32 strikeouts and 1 walk. In the game prior to this period, he struck out eight batters and no hits with 13 strikeouts. Game point average: 88.7

• Dylan Cease, Padres 2023 (July 13-25): Allowed two hits over 22 innings with 30 strikeouts and no runs scored. Game score average: 85.0

Subjectively, I’d probably go with Scherzer’s triple, which probably includes the most dominant consecutive effort ever — though we have to give Koufax a little extra credit for doing it in the closing days of a hotly contested 1965 playoff race. As for me, Cease didn’t play enough innings to earn the nod for the best three-game series ever.

Well, not yet – but let’s see what he does next time.