Prioritizing health, Guardians opt against using Bieber in Game 5

NEW YORK -- The Guardians didn’t want to do what the Yankees did in Game 5 of the American League Division Series on Tuesday.

New York ran its Game 2 starter, Nestor Cortes, back to the rubber on three days’ rest to help the Yankees defeat the Guardians, 5-1. It was a decision that ultimately paid off for the Yankees, leaving Cleveland fans wondering if it could have made a difference for the Guardians if they had followed suit by sending Shane Bieber out to start.

The Guardians stayed with their original plan of starting Aaron Civale, despite the game getting moved from Monday night to Tuesday afternoon due to rain. Manager Terry Francona said that Bieber would be available out of the bullpen but made it clear it was unlikely to happen.

“If we empty our bullpen, he's out there,” Francona said prior to the game. “But we're not sending him out there as a weapon.”

This scenario was weighed heavily by the coaching staff. There were obvious benefits to having Bieber start the winner-take-all matchup, including the fact that he’s fresh off another excellent season in which he pitched to a 2.88 ERA in 31 starts with 198 strikeouts in 200 innings. And with Civale having gone 13 days since his most recent start, there was concern about whether he’d be sharp enough to hold off the Yankees’ offense.

Hindsight allows us all to know that Civale was not the answer, but the club is confident that Bieber wasn't either. What Bieber could provide for his team was never in doubt, but Francona and pitching coach Carl Willis worried about potential health risks if Bieber started on three days’ rest for the first time in his career.

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“We recognize how good a pitcher he is,” Francona said. “It's not because he can't pitch. Just he's been through a lot. You know, he had an injury last year, and you know, he's had a remarkable year, but it's not been probably as easy as he's made it look.”

Bieber missed most of the 2021 season with a strained right shoulder. It took him until midway through this year to say that he felt his mechanics were back in order after he'd developed some habits that overcompensated for the injury. And as much as he might have been a better option, the team wanted to prioritize his future health.

“If we’re gonna go all the way, we got to do it as a team, and that’s what we’ve done, really, from Game 1,” Bieber said. “I think everybody has the utmost confidence in each other and ourselves. That’s just kind of how the cards fell today.”