Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Shane Bieber has a chance to lead his team to a sweep of the New York Yankees Tuesday night in the Bronx.
While the Yankees know the pressure is on them to send the series back to Toronto for Game 5, manager Aaron Boone made it a point on Monday to compliment Bieber as well as the Blue Jays organization for adding him at the trade deadline.
"He looks like Bieber to me," Boone told Keegan Matheson of MLB.com. "I know it was obviously a long road back for him. Good pickup by the Blue Jays being able to get him and being able to insert him into their rotation. He'll be a challenge for us."
This is one of the greatest compliments an opposing manager can provide ahead of an elimination game. However, he's prepared to make things complicated on the veteran starter.
As Matheson pointed out, Bieber does have playoff experience at Yankee Stadium. In 2022, he struck out seven batters in 5 2/3 innings for the Cleveland Guardians. That game has helped him prepare mentally for Game 3.
"I'm anticipating a ton of energy, both positive and negative," Bieber told Matheson. "For me, thankfully I've done it before. But really for me, I put myself in the best position to succeed when I just embrace it. I've tried to learn how to do that, and it's just an incredible opportunity. Like how many people get to say that they've done that?"
If Bieber has it his way, his dominance will lead to the talk of the offseason as the Yankees would be eliminated and expected to make a lot of changes to their roster and coaching staff.