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Blue Jays News: Toronto announces starting pitchers for Blue Jays vs Astros series
The Toronto Blue Jays are moving on with their season following their series against the Chicago Cubs. With that in the rearview mirror (and an August 6th reschedule date for the series finale), the Blue Jays can focus on the Houston Astros. As they prepare to face this new team, there is Blue Jays news regarding Dylan Cease, Shane Bieber, and Trey Yesavage.
The Blue Jays made some recent waves by acquiring Luis Urias from the Arizona Diamondbacks. He is expected to be with the team as they hunt down the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays in the MLB standings.
Ahead of their series against the Astros, the Blue Jays have made a decision on their starting pitchers for all three games.
Perhaps the biggest thing to note is that Bieber’s season debut will not come on Monday, June 22nd. Sunday’s series finale against the Cubs was postponed due to weather.
While it’s good news that the game was moved to a later date, it also means that Bieber’s debut is now delayed. Cease was tabbed as the starter for the Cubs’ finale, so he will get the ball for Monday’s opening game of their Astros series.
In the 2025 season, Bieber started seven games. In those games, he posted a 4-2 record and 37 strikeouts while surrendering eight home runs in 40.1 innings of work.
Here is how the starting pitcher battle is setting up for this series.
*Note: All stats for the tables are taken from MLB.com and Savant.
The opening game features a battle between the Blue Jays top offseason addition against Hunter Brown. Cease has been a strikeout machine since his acquisition. He is currently third in strikeouts across the entire MLB. Only Jacob Misiorowski and Cristopher Sanchez have more punchouts than Cease.
| Stat | Cease | Brown |
| Record | 4-3 | 1-0 |
| xERA | 3.04 | 2.18 |
| Strikeouts | 110 | 24 |
| BB | 31 | 9 |
| IP | 73.0 | 16.1 |
| Homeruns | 5 | 0 |
Bieber will get the nod for Game 2 of the Astros series, pushing his debut by a single day. Considering that he hasn’t pitched a proper MLB game since the World Series, giving him an extra day of recovery isn’t a bad thing.
| Stat | Bieber (2025 stats) | Lambert |
| Record | 4-2 | 6-4 |
| xERA | 4.48 | 3.53 |
| Strikeouts | 37 | 58 |
| BB | 7 | 25 |
| IP | 40.1 | 64.0 |
| Homeruns | 8 | 6 |
The third and final game of this series will feature the Blue Jays’ young arm in Yesavage going toe-to-toe with Mike Burrows. Following a solid 2025 season, Yesavage has staked his claim to an MLB position with his performance to date in the Blue Jays’ rotation.
| Stat | Yesavage | Burrows |
| Record | 3-3 | 3-8 |
| xERA | 2.97 | 4.72 |
| Strikeouts | 53 | 66 |
| BB | 25 | 30 |
| IP | 55.0 | 79.1 |
| Homeruns | 5 | 18 |
This series is a vital one for the Blue Jays. They need to string together some long win streaks to gain ground on the Yankees and Rays. They cannot force the issue and must take things one game at a time. Coming out of their series against the Astros with at least a winning record would go a long way toward accomplishing that goal.
Caleb Kerney Caleb covers the NHL, MLB, and Cricket for Heavy.com. He has covered professional hockey since 2022, including bylines at Dobber Prospects, The Hockey Writers, and The Hockey News. More about Caleb Kerney
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