NEW YORK — Shane Bieber has pitched at Yankee Stadium before, and he’s grateful for the experience.
There was a regular-season start in May 2023, when Bieber completed eight innings, allowing two earned runs in a game the New York Yankees would win over the Cleveland Guardians.
Less than a year prior to that, Bieber also pitched at Yankee Stadium for Game 2 of the 2022 ALDS, giving up two earned runs while striking out seven over 5.2 innings in an eventual Guardians win.
One Tommy John surgery and one team later, the stakes are higher for all involved, with his Toronto Blue Jays having a chance to clinch the series. So when Bieber looks ahead to Tuesday night, he’s expecting a ton of energy, both positive and negative.
“It’s a fun place, a fun environment, if you embrace it,” he said. “Thankfully, I’ve had that experience prior to Tuesday. I think it’s all about just keeping perspective. What an incredible opportunity it is for me personally and then this team as well.”
A victory would give send the Blue Jays to the ALCS for the first time since 2016. But the stakes are even higher for the Yankees, whose season would end with a loss.
Speaking at Yankee Stadium before the teams worked out Monday, Yankees manager Aaron Boone said his team can get back into this series if they support Carlos Rodon on defence and stay locked in for every at-bat against Bieber.
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Watch Blue Jays in ALDS on Sportsnet
The Toronto Blue Jays will go for the sweep when they visit the New York Yankees in Game 3 of the ALDS on Tuesday. Catch the action on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+, starting at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT.
“It’s about going up and trying to win every pitch,” Boone said. “Keep it small. Keep it simple.”
Like his counterpart, John Schneider, Boone said he’s considering lineup changes ahead of Game 3. With their season on the line, the Yankees need to break through against Bieber, who they didn’t face at all this season, home or road. But comparing the current version of Bieber to the pre-surgery pitcher they faced in a Guardians uniform a couple years ago, Boone sees more similarities than differences.
“He’s thrown the ball well,” Boone said. “Looks like his fastball’s in a good place. He’s going to throw the curveball, the cutter, the slider. He looks like Bieber to me. I know obviously a long road back for him, good pickup by the Blue Jays being able to get him and being able to insert him into their rotation. He’ll be a challenge.”
With a 3.57 ERA in seven regular-season starts and 37 strikeouts compared to only seven walks, Bieber looked like a frontline arm after the Blue Jays acquired him for pitching prospect Khal Stephen.
Those outings built lots of trust in Bieber, leading to the road assignment in Game 3 that allowed rookie Trey Yesavage to make his playoff debut at home, where he dominated on his way to a historic start.
Interestingly, the likes of Austin Wells, Ben Rice, Jose Caballero, Jasson Dominguez and Trent Grisham have never faced Bieber at the MLB level. Now that they’re at home, the Yankees can and likely will use their Trajekt pitching machine to get a feel for what it’s like to face Bieber — a luxury they were not afforded while on the road in Toronto against Yesavage.
Regardless, Bieber will be pitching on extra rest as his last regular-season start came Sept. 26 against the Rays. Ten days between outings isn’t exactly conventional, but then again, little has been for Bieber in his first season back from Tommy John.
“I guess silver lining of coming back from TJ is my body doesn’t really know what’s going on anyway,” he joked.
Emotions in neutral
One day after hitting the first post-season grand slam in Blue Jays franchise history, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. stayed as level-headed as possible, mindful that there’s still work to do before the Blue Jays can even think about shifting their focus away from the Yankees.
The player who once said he’d never play for the Yankees, “not even dead,” gets asked regularly about his apparent disdain for MLB’s winningest franchise. And all week, Guerrero Jr. has returned the focus of the conversation to results rather than personal feelings.
“My emotions are neutral right now,” Guerrero Jr. said Monday through interpreter Hector Lebron. “It’s not time to celebrate. It’s not over. There’s a lot of work to do still.”
Early exits in the 2020, 2022 and 2023 playoffs left an impression on Guerrero Jr., and contributed to his focus ahead of Tuesday’s Game 3.
“Baseball will teach you that,” he said. “You really have to wait for things to happen and keep staying focused, keep working hard. Then if you win, then you celebrate.”
Asked about the difference between this team and previous iterations of the Blue Jays, Guerrero Jr. pointed out that the entire team was at Yankee Stadium for an optional workout. That work ethic and focus now have the Blue Jays positioned as well as they have been in Guerrero Jr.’s entire career.
One more win over the Yankees, and the Guerrero Jr.-Bo Bichette era of Blue Jays baseball would reach its highest point yet. But for now, the focus remains on the next game.
“It’s not about sending messages for me. It’s about winning.”
Dominguez on alert
With Seranthony Dominguez pitching and Ben Rice batting Sunday, Aaron Judge appeared to be relaying signs to Rice from second base, tapping his helmet before Dominguez threw splitters on three occasions.
Such gamesmanship is allowed with MLB rules. If anything, the Yankees deserve credit for their sign-stealing ability, which requires buy-in from players as well as a sophisticated behind-the-scenes system that’s believed to use artificial intelligence to spot patterns.
But it’s on the Blue Jays to make sure their pitchers aren’t predictable, and that will be a topic of conversation with Dominguez before Game 3.
“You’ve got to do a good job of being clean, being tight,” Schneider said. “It’s part of the game everywhere. We’ll look at it and make any adjustments we need to make and just try to keep them off second (base).”
