“I was falling back in love with pitching" - Guardians Shane Bieber crushed after having season-ending surgery derail superstar bounce back bid

The Cleveland Guardians will move forward without their prominent starting pitcher, Shane Bieber.

After a thorough consultation with Dr. Keith Neister, the head physician of the Texas Rangers, and Dr. Neal Attrache, the head physician of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Bieber decided to undergo Tommy John surgery that will end his 2024 season.

“I was falling back in love with pitching, and I was having a lot of fun," Bieber said in a soft tone.

“One of the things that is a bit more difficult for me is that throughout the offseason and in spring training, I did figure some things out and my performance was getting back to the place that I knew I was capable of”

Bieber was having a dream start this season. In his starts against the Seattle Mariners and the Oakland Athletics, he held the opposition scoreless and recorded 20 strikeouts in 12.0 innings.

However, he refuses to blame MLB’s new pitching clock timing as the root of his injury.

“I'm not ready to say that that's the reason that it happened," Bieber said. "From a conditioning and cardiovascular standpoint, that hasn't affected pitchers, I don't think. So it's hard to say what's going on in the inner workings of the elbow and the arm. We'll see what's to come of it."

Guardians have limited options for rotation

The Cleveland Guanrdains may have assessed the rotation issue with additional help to fill the vacancy for Shane Bieber. However, they have suffered too much damage to control the situation.

Several Guardians pitchers have been sidelined by injuries since the beginning of the season. Ben Lively and Xzavion Curry, two of the team's aces, are currently in rehab.

Sam Hentges (finger inflammation) and Gavin Williams (elbow inflammation) joined them with no timeline to return, leaving the management with fewer options for starting pitchers. Bieber became the last name on the list of injured players to date.

Guardians are staying strong with a 3-1 series victory over the A’s and a 2-1 series win against the Mariners. They also swept the Minnesota Twins in both games and registered their first win with a 4-0 score against the Chicago White Sox on Monday.

However, if the Guardians front office doesn’t act with urgency, those five-game winning streaks may soon turn into losing records.