Guardians gain Wild Card advantage after Shane Bieber trade burns Blue Jays again

Somehow, the Toronto Blue Jays are still in the middle of the American League postseason picture. 

Their offense stinks and their pitching is nowhere near where it was last season, but that hasn’t stopped them from clawing their way back into the Wild Card race thanks to a 19-17 second half highlighted by some strong pitching performances from Shane Bieber. 

That’s not going to be the case anymore, as the Blue Jays placed Bieber on the 15-day injured list earlier today with right teres major inflammation, which is another ominous injury for a player who has had a career full of them. 

Bieber injury couldn’t have come at a worse time for a Blue Jays team that has already placed Trey Yesavage and Jameson Taillon on the injured list this month.  

While the injury is another reminder of Bieber’s fragility, it also gives the Guardians another leg up on the Blue Jays as the two teams battle for the American League’s final Wild Card spot. 

Shane Bieber's injury gives the Guardians an advantage over the Blue Jays

Bieber suffering an injury shouldn’t come as a surprise to Guardians fans given he missed time in 2023 with elbow inflammation before undergoing Tommy John surgery early in the 2024 campaign that kept him out until after the Guardians traded him to the Blue Jays at last year’s deadline. 

Bieber pitched well for the Blue Jays down the stretch last season, but his injury concerns popped up in the spring thanks to another bout of elbow inflammation that led to him going on the 60-day injured list. 

He made his return at the end of June and has largely pitched well outside of two extremely rough outings. 

Perhaps the most perplexing from the saga is that there weren’t any murmurs of an injury prior to him going on the injured list. 

In fact, he allowed just one run over seven innings in his start against the Rays on Sunday. It seems like something popped up during Toronto’s off day on Monday, and the team wasted no time placing him on the injured list at the first opportunity. 

While the Blue Jays have a rotation led by a likely Cy Young candidate in Dylan Cease, Bieber’s injury means there’s going to be even more pressure on fellow starters José Soriano and Max Scherzer. 

Soriano has pitched okay since the Blue Jays acquired him from the Angels at the trade deadline, while Scherzer has posted a 7.40 ERA around multiple stints on the injured list. 

That should be music to the Guardians’ ears since the Blue Jays are one of the teams chasing Cleveland for the American League's final Wild Card spot. 

Not only do the Guardians have a two game lead over the Blue Jays for that Wild Card spot (with two teams between them), but they’re about to take on the Blue Jays in a three-game series at Progressive Field at the start of September. 

Even if the Blue Jays manage to finagle it so Cease can start one of those games, the Blue Jays are going to be at a significant disadvantage for the rest of the series thanks to Bieber going on the injured list. 

Guardians fans should be no stranger to that phenomenon. 

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