Indians: Shane Bieber is pretty good, breaks a 21-year-old MLB record

The Indians ace, Shane Bieber, has broken yet another MLB record.

The Indians ace is making history, again. Not only did he help lead the Tribe back to a .500 record, the Indians star pitcher also broke a 21 year old record in the process. Bieber struck out eight batters for the 18th straight game, breaking a record that the great Randy Johnson set during the 1999 and 2000 seasons.

Beiber now has 68 strikeouts through just six starts this season. He’s hit at least 11 in five of those games. Bieber on the season has three wins and two losses, with a 2.76 ERA, only giving up 28 hits and walking just 14 batters. His numbers are comprable to his 2020 performance where he pithed in just 14 games. He leads the Majors in strikeouts, with the Yankees Gerrit Cole sitting in second with 62.

Maybe the best part of Shane Bieber.

He’s quite easily the early favorite to win yet another Cy Young this year, and if he continues at this pace it’ll be hard to deny him. Not only is he impressive with his strikeouts, but he’s going deeper into games. He pitched in the seventh, eight and ninth innings in three of his last four games. That may not seem like a big deal, but heavy strikeout pitchers rarely make it into the later innings.

This helps the bullpen get some rest and allows manager Terry Francona more flexibility in games. If a starter goes deep into the innings in Game 1, then when Game 2 comes around, you have more fresh arms.

Bieber has become a true stud in the Indians pitching staff, and may actually be best of the most recent crop of legends. Guys like Carlos Carrasco, Corey Kluber, Cliff Lee and even C.C. Sabathia haven’t had this type of success at such an early eage.

Bieber isn’t just the ace of the Indians, but he’s the ace of the AL and it’s going to be hard to disprove that.