Shane Bieber named Opening Day starter

The Cleveland Baseball Club has named the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner their Opening Day starter.

To the surprise of absolutely no one, Shane Bieber will be the Opening Day starter for the Cleveland Baseball Club. The team made the announcement on Friday.

Shane Bieber was absolutely incredible in 2020 as he ran away with the Cy Young Award. In the shortened 60 game season Bieber led several statistical categories in 12 starts en route to his award win. Bieber led all of baseball in wins (8), ERA (1.63), strikeouts (122), ERA+ (281), FIP (2.07) and strikeouts per nine (14.2). The 25-year old pitcher also led the American League in win percentage (.889) and hits per nine (5.4).

While there is bound to be regression in a few categories, most notably ERA, Shane Bieber is still expected to be one of the better pitchers in baseball. As long as nothing unexpected happens Bieber should be in the conversation for the 2021 Cy Young Award.