By The Canadian Press

Blue Jays pitcher Shane Bieber trying to stay patient as his season is delayed

Feb 11, 2026 | 3:06 PM

DUNEDIN — Shane Bieber is trying to remind himself that he’s had a longer wait to start a Major League Baseball season before.

Bieber spoke to the media on Wednesday, a day after the Toronto Blue Jays announced that he would not be ready to start the season as he struggles with forearm fatigue. The star pitcher — possibly the ace of Toronto’s starting rotation — missed most of last year as he recovered from Tommy John surgery.

“You want to know, and you want to have a date in mind, but they do a good job of trying to keep me week to week,” said Bieber in the clubhouse of the Blue Jays’ Player Development Centre. “Ultimately, I’m just going to bed every night feeling happy that I feel good within my progression. We’re going to take it slow and be smart.

“It’s not about how you start, it’s about how you finish, and we definitely know that, judging off the last year. I know this group’s hungry. I’m extremely hungry, and I can’t wait to get back there.”

Bieber started last season on the injured list of the Cleveland Guardians, the team he spent the first seven years of his career with, as he recovered from the operation on his ulnar collateral ligament

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The 2020 Cy Young Award winner was traded by Cleveland to the Blue Jays on July 31 for pitching prospect Khal Stephen. The 30-year-old then made his season debut for Toronto in Miami on Aug. 22.

He was instrumental in the Blue Jays’ run to the World Series, including taking the loss in Game 7 against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

“It was my first time going through TJ, first time pitching that deep in the post-season, so there were a lot of new elements, right? A lot of new factors,” said Bieber. “Looking back, those are the most intense innings I’ve ever thrown, right?

“So it all makes sense, and I’m happy to have a plan going forward and feeling good right now.”

Right now, that plan is just a protracted spring training, taking more time at each stage of a starting pitcher’s usual progression.

“We all want to be out there and compete and perform. I’ll be competing in my own right, and trying to get back out there ASAP,” said Bieber. “Ultimately, I try not to focus on that stuff and the future, but it’s easier said than done, right?

“We all know that in our lives, but I’ll try to focus on the here and now, and I’m just feeling good within my progression, and you’ve got to hit every stop along the way.”

Toronto also announced on Tuesday that Bowden Francis will miss the entire 2026 season after he underwent Tommy John surgery. Blue Jays manager John Schneider said that the absences of Bieber and Francis don’t concern him too much.

“We’re kind of in a unique spot to where, from the pitching side, we have some depth on our major league roster already,” said Schneider outside the clubhouse. “When you’re talking about Bowden and (Bieber) being a little bit behind.

“It’s opening some opportunities for other guys, for one, and other guys that have been in that position.”

Bieber finished the 2025 regular season with a 4-2 record, a 3.57 earned-run average and 37 strikeouts over 40 1/3 innings pitched for the Blue Jays. He has a 66-34 record over his eight-year career with a 66-34 record, 3.24 ERA and 995 strikeouts.

He decided to exercise his US$16 million player option in the off-season, choosing to stay in Toronto rather than exploring what would have undoubtedly been a lucrative free-agent bidding contest.

“The reality of the matter is, I came off the TJ right into a pennant race, and I wouldn’t have it any other way,” said Bieber. “Pitching in the World Series, and I gave it everything I got, as everybody else did in here, ultimately, I took my option.

“I wanted to be back here. My family wanted to be back here.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 11, 2026.

John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press