José Berríos will take the mound for the Toronto Blue Jays on Opening Day.
Berrios, 30, will get the ball when the Blue Jays kick off their season at home against the Baltimore Orioles on March 27.
This will be Berríos’ third Opening Day start with the Blue Jays after being selected to take the mound in 2022 against the Texas Rangers and 2023 against the Tampa Bay Rays. Before joining the Blue Jays, Berrios had started twice on Opening Day with the Minnesota Twins.
He will go up against Zach Eflin, who the Blue Jays went up against on Opening Day in 2024 when he was with the Rays.
Kevin Gausman will get the ball for the second game of the series, but the rest of the rotation is not set, according to Schneider. Gausman had a down year in 2024, going 14-11 while posting a 3.83 ERA with 162 strikeouts through 181 innings.
Baltimore hasn’t revealed its other starters for the four-game series against the Blue Jays. With Burnes now on the West Coast and Grayson Rodriguez expected to begin the season on the injured list, the Orioles will likely choose between Charlie Morton, Dean Kremer, Cade Povich and Tomoyuki Sugano to start the other three games.
In four spring training starts, Berrios has recorded a 2.35 ERA with 13 strikeouts and through 15.1 innings.
Last season, Berrios had a 16-11 record with a 3.60 ERA while recording 153 strikeouts in 192.1 innings pitched.