DUNEDIN \u2014 Jose Berrios is sorry he missed the Toronto Blue Jays\u2019 World Series appearance last year.<\/p>\n
Berrios formally apologized to his Blue Jays teammates after arriving at spring training and was contrite Thursday in his first interview with media since last autumn. Berrios was excluded from Toronto\u2019s playoff rosters with tendon inflammation in his right elbow and bicep and, instead of staying with the Blue Jays to support his teammates in major-league baseball\u2019s championship series, he decided to go home to Puerto Rico.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever happened last year is already in the past, I just made maybe one bad decision to go back home, to keep working on my rehab and stay close to my family,\u201d said Berrios. \u201cIn that moment I thought I wasn\u2019t pitching, and I wasn\u2019t feeling great, and I want to be close to my family.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t bring them to Canada because they were going to miss days of school, so I was thinking of that. But, like I said, I apologize. I made that bad decision to go back to my home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Berrios had a 9-5 record with a 4.17 earned-run average and 138 strikeouts over 166 innings pitched last season when Toronto put him on its 15-day injured list on Sept. 25, the first time he has ever missed time due to injury in his 10 years in the majors.<\/p>\n
Most injured players stay with their major-league club during the playoffs as a show of solidarity. <\/p>\n
Shortstop Bo Bichette, as an example, didn\u2019t play for the Blue Jays in their American League Division Series and Championship Series wins over the New York Yankees and Seattle Mariners as he recovered from a sprained left knee. But he was still in the dugout during games.<\/p>\n
Berrios left the club when they played the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series with little notice to his teammates, a decision he said he regrets.<\/p>\n
\u201cI talked to the Latin guys and some of the players who are closest to me,\u201d said Berrios. \u201cBut at this spring training, I already apologized to them. I told them, \u2018I understand if you don\u2019t agree or are unhappy with me, but that\u2019s what I did, and I apologize for that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just want to turn the page the fastest I can, and (I want to) just keep working on the same goal (we had) last year, we almost get it. So this year we have an opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/EP2SHKCJP5DM5LFEX5EKFUUZRM.jpg\")
jose berrios Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Jos\u00e9 Berr\u00edos (right) and first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. talk through the fence during batting practice at Spring Training in Dunedin, Fla. on Thursday February 12, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Frank Gunn <\/p>\n
Blue Jays manager John Schneider said he had a lot of respect for Berrios clearing the air with his teammates.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was frustrated with his health, his performance, and the circumstance with where we were in the season, right?\u201d Schneider said outside of the Blue Jays\u2019 spring training clubhouse. \u201cI think that\u2019s great that he\u2019s being accountable and talking to his teammates.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that when you have the track record that he has, it\u2019s easy to kind of get in front of it and say, like, \u2018Hey, I messed up.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Schneider said it wasn\u2019t all on Berrios, either.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were things I wish I did differently in that situation, too, but you\u2019re so locked into the World Series, you kind of put it off to the side,\u201d said Schneider. \u201cI think just him being himself is the most important part.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shane Bieber, who Toronto acquired last July in a trade with the Cleveland Guardians, exercised his US$16-million player option Nov. 5, rather than test free agency.<\/p>\n
Veteran starting pitcher Dylan Cease signed a seven-year, $210-million contract with Toronto on Dec. 2. Eight days later, journeyman pitcher Cody Ponce agreed to a three-year, $30-million deal with the Blue Jays, returning to major-league baseball from South Korea\u2019s KBO.<\/p>\n
Those three transactions meant Berrios was potentially pushed out of Toronto\u2019s rotation. <\/p>\n
However, it was announced Tuesday that Bieber won\u2019t be available to start the season as he addresses forearm fatigue. Bowden Francis, another possible starter, will miss the entire season as he has Tommy John surgery to repair his ulnar collateral ligament.<\/p>\n
That puts Berrios back in the mix to be a starting pitcher.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, they signed starting pitchers and I am a starting pitcher too,\u201d said Berrios. \u201cI never had a guaranteed spot, so I\u2019ve been working really hard trying to win my spot every year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never come to spring training and said \u2018Oh, I will be one of the five men in the rotation,\u2019 so I had to earn that spot.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 12, 2026.<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 12, 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DUNEDIN \u2014 Jose Berrios is sorry he missed the Toronto Blue Jays\u2019 World Series appearance last year. Berrios…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":471301,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,82,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-471300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-sports","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=471300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471300\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/471301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}