Coming off their American League-pennant victory in 2025, the Toronto Blue Jays featured prominently at the 2026 MLB All-Star Game.
Along with manager John Schneider and his coaching staff running the show for the junior circuit, Blue Jays right-hander Dylan Cease, second baseman Ernie Clement and closer Louis Varland all earned their way to Philadelphia for their first career all-star appearances.
Cease, the AL-leader in strikeouts, was tabbed by his skipper to start on the mound, becoming just the fourth Blue Jays pitcher (Dave Stieb, David Wells, Roy Halladay) to earn the starting assignment at the Midsummer Classic.
Clement, meanwhile, earned the start at second base as the AL’s leader in Phase 1 of van voting. He was slotted into Schneider’s lineup as the No. 9 hitter.
Varland was selected for the game by his peers after posting a 1.10 ERA and going 19-for-19 on save opportunities in the first half.
Here is a look at how the trio fared in Tuesday’s game:
Cease continued to pile up the strikeouts on Tuesday, punching out three of the four NL batters he faced in his lone inning of work.
He opened the frame by sitting leadoff man Kyle Schwarber down on seven pitches, attacking the Philadelphia Phillies star with a diet of fastballs early before getting him to chase a slider below the zone on the seventh pitch of the at-bat.
The 30-year-old continued to flash the full arsenal that has fuelled his strong first half against Juan Soto, sitting down the $765-million man on four pitches. Soto had a clear look of confusion on his face as he walked back to the dugout.
Cease then battled Freddie Freeman for nine pitches, but ultimately lost the Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman on a two-out walk. He bounced back quickly, however, striking out CJ Abrams to finish the scoreless inning.
The right-hander tossed 25 pitches in the outing — eight fastballs, five sliders and four changeups, sinkers and knuckle curves — averaged 97.4 m.p.h. with his heater while generating six swinging strikes.
After the American League put up a three-spot in the top of the first, Clement came up as leadoff batter in the second inning against Arizona Diamondbacks southpaw Eduardo Rodriguez.
And Clement stayed true to form, first-pitch hacking on a cutter at the top of the zone, which he grounded to Freeman at first base for an out.
The 30-year-old didn’t change up his approach in his second trip to the plate against Phillies starter Jesús Luzardo. Clement was once again first-pitch swinging, grounding a changeup to third for the second out of the fourth.
On defence, Clement got a pair of opportunities at second, with his final play of the night proving to be his most spectacular. In the bottom of the fifth, Dodgers outfielder Andy Pages grounded a ball up the middle that Clement ranged far to his right to secure, then leaping into the air as he faded into the left field and throwing a strike to first for the out.
The play proved to be a reversal of fortunes from Game 7 of last year’s World Series, when Pages robbed Clement of a walk-off glory with a leaping catch on the track in the bottom of the ninth.
“I had to get him back for what he did to us in the World Series,” Clement told reporters after exiting the game. “It’s all love. I have a lot of admiration for the way he plays the game. Pages just seems like such a good dude, and he made one of the best plays in post-season history, World Series history, given the circumstances. Just getting him back a little bit. It felt pretty good.”
Clement’s first chance in the field was also impressive, as he secured a 106.8 m.p.h. hot shot off the bat of Kyle Schwarber for the final out of the third inning.
The Blue Jays infielder was eventually replaced by Cleveland Guardians rookie Travis Bazzana at second base in the bottom of the sixth.
Varland entered out of the AL bullpen in the bottom of the eighth to hold a 4-0 lead.
He started out his inning of work by tossing a 100.2 m.p.h. sinker to James Wood before battling the Washington Nationals star for a six-pitch strikeout.
Although Varland surrendered a one-out single to Pete-Crow Armstrong, he needed just one pitch to induce a soft lineout from Hunter Goodman and two pitches to get Iván Herrera to ground out to third.
The 28-year-old threw 11 pitches in his scoreless outing, averaging 97.4 m.p.h. with his fastball while also mixing in his triple-digit sinker, his knuckle curve, slider and changeup.