The Toronto Blue Jays rotation could have a hole in it come Opening Day.
The Blue Jays had Jose Berrios, Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt, Bowden Francis, and Max Scherzer as their five starters. However, just 10 days before Opening Day, Toronto got bad news on the health of Scherzer.
Scherzer, who signed a one-year $15.5 million deal with Toronto in the offseason is dealing with a thumb injury and his status for Opening Day is in the air.
“My thumb hurts. It hurts to grip the ball,” Scherzer said, according to MLB.com. “The critical thing I’ve learned over the years here is that your thumb is absolutely critical to your arm health. Unfortunately, this is what I’ve been dealing with since 2023.”
As Scherzer says, this is an injury that he has been dealing with since 2023 which isn’t the best news for the Blue Jays. Scherzer also knows from years past a thumb injury can lead to further injuries if he continues to pitch.
“The danger of pitching with this is that you could sustain a shoulder injury,” Scherzer said.
Scherzer, who’s a future first-ballot Hall of Famer , has been trying to get ahead of the thumb injury in spring training. The plan is to see a hand specialist and see if he can be ready to pitch his first turn through the rotation.
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” Scherzer said.
Scherzer is likely lined up to pitch the Blue Jays’ fourth or fifth game of the season which would be on March 30 against Baltimore or March 31 against Washington.
Scherzer Focused on Moving Forward With Injury
If Scherzer can’t make his first start through the rotation, Toronto doesn’t have a ton of depth to replace him.
With that, Scherzer is trying to navigate a way to play through the injury, as long as it doesn’t end up being nerve damage.
“It hasn’t manifested out into the nerve pain yet, but that’s why I’m working with the hand specialist, the doctors, the trainers,” Scherzer said. “How can we move forward and not have this blow up into something worse?”
If Scherzer does need an IL stint to begin the year, Yariel Rodríguez would likely become the team’s fifth starter. He’s been expected to be a bulk reliever, but the Blue Jays have kept him stretched out through camp in case of an injury.
Behind Rodriguez, Jake Bloss is another option to fill in starts as well as multi-inning reliever Ryan Yarbrough.
Blue Jays Name Berrios Opening Day Starter
Toronto named Berrios their Opening Day starter on March 17.
Berrios will be an Opening Day starter for the fifth time in his career and third time as a Blue Jay.
“It’s like when I was a young kid growing up, that first day of school,” Berrios said about being named Opening Day starter. “You always had that feeling of being happy and excited. You want to get to that day as quickly as possible, meet new people and everything. Now, in baseball, having that first day, you’re using everything new — your cleats, your glove, your uniform. It’s a special day. It’s been getting more special for me, too, because my three kids are growing up and they now understand what that means. I feel happy. I feel proud.”
Toronto will open its 2025 MLB season at home on March 27 against the Baltimore Orioles.
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