The Cleveland Guardians have named their Opening Day starter.
The club announced Friday that Tanner Bibee will be on the mound for the Guardians to open the season.
The 27-year-old is 1-2 with a 4.42 ERA in 18.1 IP with 16 strikeouts this spring, and is coming off a strong end to his 2025 campaign, where he took a win in three of his four final starts in the regular season. That included a complete game viceroy on Sept. 12 vs. the White Sox. Bibee would stay hot entering the postseason, pitching in Game 2 of the ALDS vs the Detroit Tigers, helping lead Cleveland to their only win of the series.
Bibee was supposed to have the same honor to open last season, but was scratched from that game, dealing with acute gastroenteritis.
Now he has another chance, and that opportunity is not lost on him.
“The fact that you get the second [chance to start], it's kind of like a vote of confidence, and it's a really nice thing to just have the opportunity again to go out there and lead us on Opening Night,” Bibee told media in Goodyear, AZ, on Friday. “Regardless of whether I was going to throw the first game or the fifth game… the adrenaline was going to be just as high."
Bibee and the Guardians open the 2026 regular season in Seattle against the Mariners on Thursday, March 26, at 10:10 P.M. ET.
