Shane Bieber rejoined the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday and began another rehab step with Buffalo, while manager John Schneider said Dylan Cease could be back soon and Max Scherzer’s workload continued in Triple-A. Even with the pitching help on the horizon, Tor
TORONTO — Shane Bieber reconnected with his Toronto Blue Jays teammates Friday, did some throwing on the field, packed up his gear, and left for Worcester to join triple-A Buffalo for his latest rehab outing.
“Raring to go,” Bieber said as he zipped up an equipment bag. “Just a matter of pitch count right now, building up innings and volume. I feel great. As hard as it is to say patient, it’s going according to plan.”
Bieber will be aiming for four innings or so Saturday in his third rehab start. The timing matters, because he’s one piece of a larger group the Blue Jays are waiting on. Dylan Cease, who completed his rehab start on Thursday, was also back in the clubhouse. Schneider said Cease’s next start “very likely could be here. ” on Tuesday. the first day Cease is eligible to come off the injured list.
The club is also watching Max Scherzer’s progress. Scherzer sat 93.4 m.p.h. Friday while throwing 73 pitches, allowing three runs in 3.2 innings for Buffalo. If the workload continues to line up, his return could follow that same pathway.
For now, Toronto is stitching its lineup and rotation back together slowly, not all at once. Alejandro Kirk is catching at low-A Dunedin as he builds up, and Bieber said the clubhouse can already feel the shape of the finish line.
A “locker room that’s been hobbled, so to speak, for the majority of the year can kind of see things hopefully rounding into shape here soon,” Bieber said. “Happy to be a part of that.”
The problem is that the Blue Jays’ season can’t pause while rehab schedules get checked off. By the time the reinforcements are fully in place, it’s still an open question how quickly the team’s rhythm will match the urgency in the standings.
Toronto has managed to avoid the kind of unraveling that has hit other American League contenders and neighbors. The Detroit Tigers, New York Mets, Boston Red Sox and Houston Astros have all been struck hard by injuries, but the Blue Jays have kept themselves afloat. Still, their footing is shaky.
They fell back to four games under .500 at 30-34 after a 13-3 thumping from the Baltimore Orioles, a loss that arrived only a week after Toronto fought back to the break-even mark.
Schneider said the frustration is real because the results haven’t always matched the sense of forward motion.
“That part has been good and it’s also been frustrating as hell because you feel like you’re making some progress and then you lose a couple games in a row. ” Schneider said. “The pitching overall has been really good and over the last handful of games. you have some hiccups from both starters and relievers. But the pitching has done a good job. Our defence has gotten better, and that allows you to be in these games.”.
Then comes the part Toronto can’t wait to fix: getting more punch from the lineup.
“The next thing is we need some guys to slug. You need George (Springer) and Vlad (Guerrero Jr.) and (Jesus) Sanchez and (Daulton) Varsho to slug a little bit more and hopefully get some separation,” Schneider said.
Against Baltimore, Toronto got a glimpse of that separation potential and then watched it slip away. Brandon Valenzuela delivered a go-ahead. two-run homer in the fifth inning. but the Orioles responded with a five-run top of the sixth to wrest control back. Jackson Holliday and Adley Rutschman. who went deep in the first. both doubled during that stretch. and Coby Mayo added a two-run homer.
The inconsistency at the plate is why Schneider is stressing that the return of key names won’t automatically flip the switch.
“It’s not just a foregone conclusion that when you get guys back it’s going to be rainbows and butterflies,” Schneider said.
Instead, the message from the coaching staff is built around day-to-day focus. Schneider said they’ve kept urging the team to “focusing on the here and now” and hammering that “everyone has different goals. whether it’s defensively or offensively. continuing to hammer that and just say. OK. today is the most important day.”.
“It’s not when Kirk gets back or Biebs or Max or whoever. Today’s the most important day to do what you’re good at. And every day is vital until we do get some regular guys back. Then you’ve really got to just keep your foot on the gas,” Schneider added.
For Toronto, the metaphor fits: progress can’t come only from reinforcements arriving—it has to come from getting into gear before that happens.
The Blue Jays have held together thanks in part to contributors like Valenzuela and Sanchez. two additions made through players acquired during the deadline sell-off in 2024. Pinango and Charles McAdoo were also direct acquisitions from that purge. and together they’ve provided the depth layer that’s kept Toronto from spiraling.
“It sounds so cliche to say, but the triple-A roster is an extension of us,” said ace Kevin Gausman. “We set the tone in the spring that we expect everybody to be good at the fundamentals so that when they come up. if they’re asked to lay down a bunt. it’s not the first time they’ve ever done it. Hats off to the organization for doing that honestly because a couple years ago, that wasn’t the case.”.
Even if time is running, Gausman pointed out just how close the Blue Jays have stayed to their goals.
“To be honest it’s crazy that we’re that close because I think we’ve been playing pretty terrible compared to what we all expect,” Gausman said. “And so, the fact that we’re still that close is definitely encouraging.”
Bieber, meanwhile, is approaching his next phase with the same mindset—trusting the resiliency the team showed after he was acquired from Cleveland at the deadline a year ago.
He said the Blue Jays have “the ability to just put their head down and continue to trudge forward. Obviously, you’d love to run forward, but right now, we’re just continuing to progress forward. That’s very obvious for me coming back in here today. Nobody’s hanging their heads here, by any means, so we’re completely confident on what’s ahead of us.”.
The challenge for Toronto between now and when Bieber and the others return is simple to say and hard to execute: doing enough to keep confidence from turning into impatience.
Toronto Blue Jays Shane Bieber Dylan Cease Max Scherzer Alejandro Kirk Buffalo Worcester rehab start John Schneider Kevin Gausman Baltimore Orioles Brandon Valenzuela Jackson Holliday Adley Rutschman Coby Mayo