Kyle Schwarber vs Dylan Cease

The Almanac's Take

Schwarber gets the platoon edge here as a lefty against Cease's right hand, and his season line backs it up — .254/.360/.560 with 32 home runs and a .920 OPS across 408 plate appearances. The real tension is that Cease has been genuinely difficult this year: 2.56 ERA, 13.5 K/9, and a 3.36 K/BB ratio over 98 innings, and Schwarber's 35.3% strikeout rate is a real exposure point against that kind of swing-and-miss stuff. The 13-PA head-to-head is too thin to lean on — two home runs and a 96.2 mph average exit velo are interesting color, but that's a dozen-plus pitches, not a pattern.

Career head-to-head

AVG

.300

3-for-10

PA

13

HR

2

K

2

BB

3

Pitches seen

55

Avg exit velo

96.2 mph

Career meetings in the Statcast era (2015–present). Even a clear edge over a handful of plate appearances is a small sample — read it as color, not a projection.

Pitch mix to the batter

Plate-appearance log

• 2025-07-02Field Out · 4-Seam Fastball 96.0 mph · 92.0 mph EV
• 2025-07-02Field Out · 4-Seam Fastball 98.4 mph · 102.8 mph EV
• 2025-07-02Field Out · 4-Seam Fastball 98.1 mph · 83.5 mph EV
• 2024-04-27Walk · Slider 89.4 mph
• 2024-04-27Strikeout · Slider 88.0 mph
• 2024-04-27Strikeout · Slider 87.2 mph
• 2021-09-11Walk · 4-Seam Fastball 97.4 mph
• 2021-09-11Walk · Slider 87.5 mph
• 2020-09-25Field Out · Slider 87.3 mph · 106.4 mph EV
• 2020-09-25Home Run · 4-Seam Fastball 99.5 mph · 103.9 mph EV
• 2020-08-23Home Run · Slider 85.0 mph · 102.2 mph EV
• 2020-08-23Double · 4-Seam Fastball 97.9 mph · 97.5 mph EV
• 2020-08-23Field Out · 4-Seam Fastball 98.1 mph · 81.3 mph EV