{"id":565270,"date":"2026-02-11T01:36:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T01:36:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/565270\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T01:36:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T01:36:15","slug":"why-shane-bieber-is-set-to-start-2026-season-on-il","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/565270\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Shane Bieber is set to start 2026 season on IL"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Spring Training<\/a> ramps up in Florida, the Toronto Blue Jays<\/a> confirmed an early adjustment to their pitching plans. Right-hander Shane Bieber<\/a> will not be ready for Opening Day<\/a> as the club takes a cautious approach with one of its most important arms.<\/p>\n

Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith shared the update on X (formerly known as Twitter) after speaking with manager John Schneider<\/a>, clarifying both the diagnosis<\/a> and Toronto\u2019s plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cBlue Jays plan for Shane Bieber to open the season on the injured list.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s dealing with right forearm fatigue and his ramp-up will be delayed past opening day. He’s feeling good per John Schneider and playing catch, but won’t start the season on time. Described as week to week\u201d<\/p>\n

The Blue Jays plan to place the unanimous 2020 AL Cy Young Award winner on the injured list with right forearm fatigue, delaying his ramp-up and keeping him off the active roster to open the 2026 season. While the move is precautionary, it immediately impacts Toronto\u2019s early rotation outlook.<\/p>\n

Bieber has not been shut down from throwing and continues to play catch. However, the two-time All-Star\u2019s workload remains below game readiness, leading the organization to slow his progression during the opening weeks of camp.<\/p>\n

Schneider emphasized that the decision reflects a long-term mindset rather than short-term urgency. Given Bieber\u2019s recent injury history, the Blue Jays opted against pushing his workload and risking further complications.<\/p>\n

Bieber\u2019s delayed availability<\/a> creates an early challenge for the Blue Jays\u2019 rotation. The club expected him to slot near the top alongside Kevin Gausman and Dylan Cease, and his absence pushes the team to rely on depth options at the start of 2026.<\/p>\n

The setback also carries personal significance for Bieber. After undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2024 and returning late in 2025, he exercised his player option with the goal of re-establishing durability and value in 2026.<\/p>\n

The Blue Jays organization views the issue as manageable rather than alarming. With fatigue\u2014not structural damage\u2014driving the delay, the club believes patience now could prevent larger problems later. The team will continue to evaluate Bieber on a week-to-week basis as Spring Training progresses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Spring Training ramps up in Florida, the Toronto Blue Jays confirmed an early adjustment to their pitching…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":565271,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2378],"tags":[5,377,2554,3964,4,3410,1406,1271,151,282,70,2553],"class_list":{"0":"post-565270","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-toronto-blue-jays","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-blue-jays","10":"tag-bluejays","11":"tag-john-schneider","12":"tag-mlb","13":"tag-mlb-injury","14":"tag-opening-day","15":"tag-shane-bieber","16":"tag-spring-training","17":"tag-toronto","18":"tag-toronto-blue-jays","19":"tag-torontobluejays"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116049437233264033","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=565270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/565271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=565270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=565270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=565270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}