The Mariners escaped the ALDS with a win over the Tigers but now face a much tougher task against the Blue Jays, who took control of the AL East over the rival Yankees in June and didn’t look back. Meanwhile,
the Mariners will need an infusion of adrenaline to lift them through a cross-country international flight after Friday’s marathon fifteen-inning game. If the Mariners can manage a split in these two opening games, they’ll put themselves in a good position before the series returns to Seattle, but they’ll be facing the Blue Jays’ two best pitchers, starting with Kevin Gausman.
Lineups:
Pitching Matchup:
Bryce Miller gets his second career postseason start, mostly because he’s the only healthy Mariners starter who didn’t pitch in Friday’s marathon. But Miller looked good in his start in Detroit even as the Mariners lost his start, with some ramped-up velocity, strong command, and good action on his splitter. The Mariners will need him to hang in as long as he can against a tough Blue Jays lineup as the leverage arms in the bullpen were all taxed in Friday’s game.
The Blue Jays will tap their ace Kevin Gausman for Game 1. Gausman was excellent in his first start in the postseason, dominating the Yankees for 5.2 innings with his fastball-splitter combo. As good as he’s been, though, his 94.5 mph average fastball will be a welcome relief to Mariners hitters who dealt with 13 innings of Tarik Skubal over the previous series, including six innings of him throwing 98-101 in the most recent game. Read more in the series preview here.
News:
If you didn’t read Zach’s breakdown on the rosters, here’s the tl;dr version. Bryan Woo is on for Seattle; per Dan Wilson, he’ll throw a live bullpen tomorrow. “I think he’s made steady progress and has hits some of the milestones we were hoping for,” said Wilson. “Felt good in his last bullpen and the velos were where we were hoping to see them.”
The other difference: Luke Raley has been left off the ALCS roster in favor of Miles Mastrobuoni, who offers greater positional flexibility. “‘Stro’ is one of those guys that’s able to play anywhere on the infield and can fill in in a lot of the outfield spots as well, so just kind of adding that versatility is going to be something that we’re hoping for in this series as well,” said Wilson. Ben Williamson is also off the roster to make room for Woo.
For the Blue Jays, Bo Bichette is not on the ALCS roster as he’s still dealing with a sore knee.
The Mariners will announce their Game 2 starter postgame today. The Blue Jays have already announced rookie Trey Yesavage, their 2025 first-rounder, as their starter tomorrow.
Game Information:
Game time: 5:03 PT
Radio: Seattle Sports (710 AM) and ESPN Radio
TV: FOX. No more B-team for the ALCS; this will be Joe Davis and John Smoltz on the call, with Ken Rosenthal and Tom Verducci as field reporters.
Recommended Reading:
Ryan on the Mariners’ road offense; Bee on Humpy; John on the birthday boys; me on the Blue Jays offense vs. Mariners pitching
Today in Mariners History:
I was wondering when we’d hit one of these. The Mariners have never played a game on October 12. Whatever they do today, good or bad, it will be Mariners history.
