Blue Jays announce José Berríos as their Opening Day starter
Photo credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 17, 2025, 11:00 EDTUpdated: Mar 17, 2025, 10:57 EDT
The Toronto Blue Jays Opening Day is just 10 days away.
They’ll face the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday, Mar. 27 at 3:07 PM ET. On Monday morning, it was announced that José Berríos will get the start for the Blue Jays.
The last time he started on Opening Day, it didn’t go well. Acquired in a trade before the 2021 trade deadline, Berríos was the Blue Jays Opening Day starter for the 2022 season. He didn’t even get out of an inning, allowing four earned runs in a third of an inning to give him a 108 ERA to start the year.
In that game, the Blue Jays were able to overcome a 7-0 deficit. They scored three runs in the bottom of the fourth and four in the bottom of the fifth, before scoring a run in each of their last three turns at the plate to win 10-8 in one of their most fun Opening Day games in recent memory. Ironically, the 2022 season was also the last time they had an Opening Day at Rogers Centre due to the renovations in 2023 and 2024.
It was a good season for the 2022 Blue Jays but the same cannot be said for Berríos. He finished the season with a career-worst (minimum 60+ innings pitched) 5.23 ERA and a 4.55 FIP in 172 innings pitched. Every third start just felt like a struggle for the Puerto Rican pitcher.
Berríos has been everything the Jays have asked for since then though. In 2023, he had a 3.65 ERA and a 3.99 FIP in 189.2 innings pitched, with a 23.5 K% and a 6.6 BB%. He even made a start in the post-season, where he was famously pulled rather early in the game. Last season, he had a 3.60 ERA and a 4.72 FIP in 192.1 innings pitched, with a 21.7 K% and a 6.7 BB%.
So far through four starts in Spring Training, Berríos has a 2.35 ERA and a 4.58 FIP in 15.1 innings pitched, along with a 21.7 K% and a 6.7 BB%. His last start on Sunday saw him pitch six innings, giving up four hits and striking out seven. Safe to say he’s ready for Opening Day.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, Oilersnation, and FlamesNation. They can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.
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