Cleveland Guardians Reveal Big Starting Pitching Update

The Cleveland Guardians were hit with quite the unfortunate surprise ahead of their season opener, as ace pitcher Tanner Bibee was scratched due to an illness.

The Guardians were forced to turn to Ben Lively as a result, but it ended up being no harm, no foul as Cleveland outlasted the Kansas City Royals by a score of 7-4 in extra innings.

So, when will Bibee be making his 2025 debut, then?

Well, Zack Meisel of The Athletic has provided an update in that regard, revealing that Bibee will take the mound when the Guardians face the Royals in the series finale this Sunday. Gavin Williams will pitch the second matchup of the three-game set on Saturday.

Bibee went 12-8 with a 3.47 ERA last season, allowing 150 hits while registering 187 strikeouts over 173.2 innings of work.

The 26-year-old, who played his collegiate baseball at Cal State Fullerton, was selected by Cleveland with the fifth overall pick of the 2021 MLB Draft.

He made his big-league debut in 2023, pitching to the tune of an impressive 2.98 ERA, surrendering 122 hits while fanning 141 batters across 142 frames. Bibee finished second in AL Rookie of the Year voting for his efforts.

With Shane Bieber still recovering from Tommy John surgery, Bibee's contributions will be more than paramount to the Guardians this season, especially considering that the rest of the starting rotation is full of question marks.

Cleveland won the AL Central division title and made it all the way to the ALCS last year, so the Guardians have quite the standard to live up to in 2025.

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