So here we are: Game 7. You never take these for granted, because they don’t come around every year. Both the ALCS and NLCS went seven in 2023, but we didn’t have a single best-of-seven series go the distance in 2021, ’22 or ’24.
This time, it’s two teams with just one combined Game 7 in their histories: the Blue Jays’ ALCS loss to the Royals in 1985. That means one of these franchises will celebrate its first Game 7 victory on Monday night. These are two fanbases that are downright famished for a World Series, battling it out, for everything. It’s almost too stressful to contemplate. It’s Game 7. Enough said.
Throughout this postseason, I’ll be previewing the next day’s action, game by game. Here are three storylines for Monday’s ALCS Game 7.
Will one (or more) of the Mariners’ big four starters step up?
The Mariners have gotten two good starts this series, both from a surprising source: Bryce Miller. But otherwise, the rotation has been a complete mess. This is not how it was supposed to work for Seattle. The rotation has been a strength all season — it’s actually been a strength for the past few years, while it was the lineup that often held them back.
But the rotation’s struggles are, frankly, the reason this series isn’t over with already — the reason the Mariners are not currently preparing to face the Dodgers in the World Series. Logan Gilbert has a 7.71 ERA; Luis Castillo has an 11.57 ERA; George Kirby is at 18.00. Their four starts have lasted just 13 1/3 innings, combined. (And Bryan Woo hasn’t started and has thrown only two innings out of the bullpen, allowing one run.) Kirby will start Game 7, and everyone else except Gilbert figures to be available, in addition to all their top relievers.
Under ordinary circumstances, the idea that the Mariners could throw Kirby, Castillo and Woo at a team in a win-or-go-home Game 7 would feel like an overwhelming advantage. But this series has not progressed under ordinary circumstances. We were all so excited for the Mariners because of their rotation strength. It has been anything but a strength this series. It is time for it to be a strength … or we’ll spend the entire offseason wondering whether we were all wrong to believe so much in them in the first place.
Who’s the star who has the big moment?
This series has three of the biggest names in the entire sport: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. for the Blue Jays and Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodríguez for the Mariners. All of them already have authored signature moments this series. All of them already feel like all-time icons for their teams. Guerrero’s massive extension that he signed before the season may have spurred this entire 2025 run. (And perhaps more runs to come.) Raleigh hit 60 freaking homers. Rodríguez is the seed of hope whose arrival has led to this whole era of the Mariners’ resurgence.
It wouldn’t be shocking to see statues of each of them outside their respective stadiums someday. But Game 7 is the time when legends truly get cemented. What’s the pose those statues will be in, if they someday get made? It may well be a pose from something they do in this game. These fanbases have total faith in all of these stars. Which one will have the biggest moment on the biggest possible stage?
One of these teams is going to have its hearts absolutely broken.
In close games, or close series, people always say things like, “It’s a shame that either one of these teams has to lose.” This is always true: These are competitors at the top of their field who have worked their entire lives to reach this moment, and these are fans who have followed their teams, and their dreams, all the way to this moment. It’s always sad when one team has to go home. But goodness gracious, it is going to be devastating for whichever team loses this game.
The Blue Jays and their fans have gone through 30-plus years in the desert, all leading up to this team, the one that’s the culmination of a road the franchise has been on for more than a half-decade. The Mariners and their fans went more than two decades between playoff appearances — with that 2001 team being an all-time one that may be the best ever team to fall short — and, quite infamously, have the distinction of being the only team that has never reached a World Series.
This is the Blue Jays team their fans have been waiting for. This is the Mariners team that their fans have been waiting for. One of them, at the end of the night, is going to have one of the greatest experiences of their lives. The other is going to come so close only to have their dreams snatched away at the last possible second. One team will reach the summit; the other will fall into the abyss. It is a wonderful sport, this baseball that we love. But it also can be so, so cruel.
