Jun 14, 2025; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; San Diego Padres pitcher Yu Darvish (11) watches before the start a game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Allan Henry-Imagn Images Allan Henry-Imagn Images

Padres' Mike Shildt Wants to See More Out of Dylan Cease, Yu Darvish

Originally posted on San Diego Padres on SI
By Aaron Coloma | Last updated Aug 29, 2025 2:30 PM ET

San Diego Padres manager Mike Shildt spoke about the underwhelming performances of starting pitchers Yu Darvish and Dylan Cease and what he expects out of them for the remainder of the season.

Coming off a season where he landed in Cy Young conversations, Cease isn't quite living up to the same standard as 2024. He has a 4.82 ERA through 142 innings, and leads the National League in walks. He is still striking out batters at an extraordinary rate, but by all other metrics, he is having one of the worst seasons of his career.

Darvish spent the first half of the year on the injured list, and has only made 10 starts this season so far. Through those appearances, he has a 5.66 ERA through 47.2 innings and his strikeouts per nine innings has steadily dropped since his arrival in San Diego.

“It’s going to be important,” Shildt recently said of his starters going deeper into games. “I mean, we’re going to get to a time where, yeah, we can go to the bullpen super early. But you’re talking about Yu Darvish and Dylan Cease — guys that we have a lot of trust and confidence in. And the ability for those guys to go deeper is going to be important for the continued freshness of our bullpen.”

The Padres will need their starters to perform at as high a level as possible, as once the postseason comes around they'll need their elite relievers to get all the rest they can. The Padres have already proved this is a winning strategy for themselves, as they took a series off the Dodgers where their starting pitcher allowed one hit and lasted six innings in each of their two wins.

The Dodgers currently lead the NL West by two games after the Padres' loss on Wednesday. The Friars get a rest day Thursday before returning to action against the Minnesota Twins on Friday. All of the Padres' next three series are against teams below .500, giving them a perfect opportunity to take back first place for themselves.

Nestor Cortes will look to build on a strong start last time out Friday, and will hope to provide some of the consistency Shildt is looking for from his rotation.