Jose Berrios had to apologize for an incident last season when he declined to pitch out of the bullpen to help the Toronto Blue Jays in October, a moment when he potentially could have provided valuable support to his teammates. Instead, he chose to leave the country to rehab an elbow injury.
“Jose Berrios apologized today and has apologized to his teammates for how 2025 ended. He says that he chose to go home to rehab in Puerto Rico and be with his family there, but owned that today, calling it a ‘mistake’ and a ‘bad decision’,” Keegan Matheson reported on X (@keeganmatheson).
Berrios has not pitched in a postseason since 2023. His 0-2 MLB postseason record is not particularly impressive across four October appearances. With the Blue Jays, he made just one postseason outing, posting a 3.00 ERA in a 2023 game against the Twins.
Berrios’ strong season outweighed his mistake
Despite committing a painful mistake, Berrios still put together a very solid regular season with the Blue Jays, going 9-5. His year was cut somewhat short due to an elbow injury, but he consistently delivered when called upon, something that did not go unnoticed by analysts.
“He’s been remarkably consistent throughout his entire career, having tossed at least 165 innings in every full season since 2018. In fact, when he was shut down due to elbow inflammation last year, it was the first time in his 10-year career that he was placed on the injured list,” Brandon Glick wrote for Jays Journal.
Now, attention turns to how Berrios’ Blue Jays teammates might respond, if they respond at all, to the public apology he issued to the media. At the very least, he acknowledged his mistake, and it is possible that things will move forward normally from here.