ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The 2024 season for the Toronto Blue Jays is going to start the same way the final game of last year began — with Jose Berrios on the mound.

This time, however, there won’t be any overthinking or multiple plans and moving parts based on scenarios unfolding on the field.

Berrios will simply be looking to get as many Opening Day outs as possible.

Once the 29-year-old hurls his first pitch late Thursday afternoon at The Trop, it will officially turn the page on the bitter finish to 2023 and give this club another chance at redemption.

“It’s an honour for me,” Berrios said of the opening day nod. “Everybody knows how last season ended, but we are grown men and we talked and everything was clear. We’ve turned the page already.

“Now I know they kept belief in me and trust in me. They are giving me the ball for a reason and I’m going to be ready.”

Pulling a cruising starting pitcher, one you had enough confidence in at one point to sign to a $131-million extension, in the fourth inning of a postseason game was a head-scratcher, but not the reason the Jays lost to the Minnesota Twins.

It did, however, potentially........

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