CLEVELAND, Ohio — Cleveland Guardians pitcher Tanner Bibee says he will bounce back in 2027 after a frustrating season and an October in which he was barely used during the club’s postseason run, Guardians Nation reported.
“There’s a reason I signed an extension to be here. There’s a reason why I want to win a championship for Cleveland,” Bibee told cleveland.com, in comments reported by Guardians Nation. “I don’t think it’s a lack of confidence in me because I’m going to bounce back next year. It’s not a lack of confidence in me because I know I can do it.”
Bibee made 33 starts during the regular season, including on Opening Day, and led the staff in innings, Guardians Nation reported. In the postseason, though, he pitched only once in two rounds, and that appearance came out of the bullpen. In that lone outing he was charged with two runs and recorded only one out, according to Guardians Nation.
For the rest of October, manager Stephen Vogt leaned on Gavin Williams, Parker Messick and Foster Griffin, plus bullpen games, as Cleveland came back to beat the Chicago White Sox and then fell to the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League Championship Series, Guardians Nation reported. Bibee made clear he does not see the decision as a sign the organization has lost faith in him, the report said.
His 2026 season was frustrating in several ways. Bibee went 7-15 with a 4.36 ERA, and his 15 losses led the league, Guardians Nation reported. He threw a team-high 188 innings with 148 strikeouts and a 1.22 WHIP, received some of the lowest run support in baseball, and became the first pitcher in franchise history to go winless in his first 13 starts of a season, according to the report.
There were also stretches when he was excellent. From the start of June through early August, Bibee posted a 2.98 ERA over 10 starts, and by late August he was tied for the American League lead in quality starts, Guardians Nation reported. His command slipped in September, including a five-walk outing against Toronto, and that rough finish likely played a part in Vogt’s October plans, the report said.
Bibee, 27, signed a five-year, $48 million extension in March 2025 that runs through 2029 and includes a club option after that, Guardians Nation reported. He finished second in American League Rookie of the Year voting in 2023 and has been a durable presence at the front of the rotation since, and Vogt has said he expects Bibee to remain one of the anchors of the staff next season, according to the report.
Cleveland will need him. With Griffin heading into free agency, the rotation has a hole to fill, and a bounce-back season from Bibee would go a long way toward solving that problem. He now has a full offseason to turn October’s disappointment into motivation heading into 2027.
Photo: Erik Drost, CC BY