José Berríos falls short of milestone, but his 2024 still deserves praise

When José Berríos took the mound for his final start of the 2024 season last week, he was within striking distance of an impressive career achievement.

The right-hander, who just wrapped up his third full season with the Toronto Blue Jays, went into the Sept. 27 game against the Miami Marlins sitting on 99 career wins. Just one shy of the century mark, with the way he had been pitching to finish his season, it looked like a good possibility that Berríos would reach the 100-win plateau to put a bow on another impressive season in the Toronto rotation.

José Berríos falls short of milestone, but his 2024 still deserves praise

Unfortunately, things went sideways early on for the 30-year-old, and he ended up posting one of his worst starts of the season. He had his shortest outing of the year, lasting just three innings while allowing six runs on six hits and walking three batters. It was a surprising turn of events, as Berríos had posted a 1.51 ERA over his previous eight starts, as noted by MLB.com's Keegan Matheson.

It didn't matter a lick for the team's results. The Blue Jays had been unceremoniously petering out down the meaningless final stretch of games. Still, it would have been nice to see Berríos reach that milestone as a silver lining during a truly forgettable Blue Jays season. Even though he wasn't able to grab his 100th career win, it shouldn't take away from the successful campaign he put together.

The Blue Jays should hand Berríos the award for being Mr. Consistent. Now nine years into his MLB career, he still has yet to land on the IL. His starts are like clockwork and he was a welcome stabilizing force in a year of chaos.

Beginning the year as the Opening Day starter, he made 32 starts again, just like the previous five full-length seasons. He threw 192 1/3 innings, the seventh-most in the majors and his most since eclipsing the 200-inning mark in 2019. Despite throwing more innings this year, Berríos gave up fewer hits (168) than in either of the two previous years in a Blue Jays uniform. He allowed 199 hits in 172 innings in 2022 and 173 hits in 189 2/3 innings last year.

He racked up a 16-11 record, the most wins on the staff and, as Matheson points out, an impressive feat based on the bullpen's performance this year. His 3.60 ERA was his best mark since the 2021 season when he joined the Blue Jays at the trade deadline, and better than his career 4.07 average. He also posted his lowest WHIP since 2021 at 1.15.

As much as it was tough to see his season end the way it did, we can rest assured that Berrios will reach 100 wins early next season, possibly on Opening Weekend. And, with his contract extending through the 2028 season, there should be plenty more wins as a Blue Jay in his future.