Blue Jays' Dylan Cease, Kevin Gausman among unluckiest pitchers in MLB start-of-season history originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.The Toronto Blue Jays have not had the start to the season they would've wanted after coming within an inning of winning the World Series last fall.The pitching isn't to blame -- well, at least not the starting pitching.Returning stalwart Kevin Gausman and new guy Dylan Cease have been two of the best pitchers in baseball.Despite that, they have exactly zero wins in their records.According to analyst Chris Black, just three pitchers in MLB history have begun a season through four starts with 30-plus strikeouts, an ERA below 2.50 and zero wins.Two of the three are Gausman and Cease this season.MORE: Salvador Perez, Royals find themselves in an odd feudGausman is 0-1 with a 2.42 ERA and 31 strikeouts.Cease is 0-0 with a 1.74 ERA and 32 strikeouts.This is a two-pronged problem.

For one, the Blue Jays' offense hasn't found its groove yet, particularly in the power department.The other is the bullpen, which has been painfully miserable.Together, both of those things mean that either Gausman and Cease aren't getting leads in the first place, or that the leads aren't being protected when they exit. If the Blue Jays don't solve their issues, it won't matter that Gausman and Cease are dealing. But if they do, they'll be grateful to know that the two pitchers at the top of their starting rotation are definite stars.More MLB news:Explaining the absurdity of 2 MLB players named Max MuncyThis hitter has a worse OBP than his batting averageRed Sox green uniforms have absurd walk-off magicThis slider is really good and moves the entirely wrong directionThis second-generation relief pitcher is on an absurd wins pace