Basically, all the LDS were transcendent. Which may be setting up something even better as we head into the League Championship Series round, which begins Sunday with the AL. This is the good stuff.
Throughout this postseason, I’ll be previewing the next day’s action, game by game. Here are three storylines to watch going into ALCS Game 1 on Sunday night.
ALCS Game 1: Mariners at Blue Jays
8:03 p.m. ET, FOX
SP: Bryce Miller (SEA) vs. Kevin Gausman (TOR)
1. How are the Mariners supposed to recover from that?
It feels like the Mariners — and maybe all of us — deserve, like, a week off, doesn’t it? The epic, mammoth, I-can’t-feel-my-face lunacy that was the all-encompassing madhouse of the 15-inning Game 5 ALDS decider on Friday night has surely worn everyone out. And that’s before you even consider what it did to the Mariners’ pitching staff. They used seven pitchers, including two starters who came out of the bullpen: Logan Gilbert and winning pitcher Luis Castillo. While necessary, it was a decision that’s going to affect how this entire series plays out, not just Game 1.
It feels like both of these first two games in Toronto could be Johnny Wholestaff games, and predicting which pitchers are going to enter the game when feels like a fool’s errand. Seriously, think about how exhausted the Mariners are going to be at first pitch. Not only did they play a 15-inning win-or-go-home game roughly 45 hours before starting the ALCS, they had to fly 2,500 miles the next day and go through customs to do so. ALCS Game 1 starts at 8:03 p.m. ET/5:03 p.m. PT on Sunday, whether the Mariners — or, again, any of us — are ready for it or not.
2. Can the Blue Jays take advantage of the exhausted Mariners?
As much fun as it was for the rest of us to watch Game 5 of that series, no one enjoyed themselves more than the Toronto Blue Jays did. With three days off since their series vs. the Yankees ended, they got to kick their feet back, prop themselves up on their collective couches and witness the two teams competing to play them pound each other into submission.
The Blue Jays have everything lined up for them. They’ve got Gausman starting Game 1, with Trey Yesavage and Shane Bieber set to pitch in the next two games (but not necessarily in that order). They’ve had time for some of their injured players to rest. They’ve been able to figure out exactly what they want to do with their pitching staff. And, sheesh, they (unlike the rest of the baseball world) have been able to get a few good nights of sleep.
Any seven-game series is going to bring with it some variance. Odd things can, and will, happen; you never know how these are going to go down. But it has been a long time since a team has come into a series with a more straightforward advantage when it comes to basic circumstances than the Blue Jays do right now. That, of course, brings with it its own pressures: Losing Game 1 would not only waste that advantage, but it would also put the Mariners in the driver’s seat … and make them feel even more blessed than they already do.
3. Which superstar makes this series his own, from the get-go?
These are Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s Blue Jays, and have been for several years now, something that was cemented when he signed that extension with the team back in April. He’s the very definition of a franchise player. And he has been the central figure of their postseason, too, going 9-for-17 with three homers and nine RBIs in the ALDS, including a grand slam that ended with a bat flip that would surely made José Bautista grin (and stare someone down, of course). It is reaching the point that the Toronto crowd is roaring just to watch him walk up to the plate: Every Vlad Jr. at-bat feels like an event and, maybe, history.
Meanwhile, you may remember that Cal Raleigh hit 60 freaking home runs this year. He only had one homer in the ALDS, but he was still very productive at the plate, hitting .381 and putting up a 1.051 OPS. And in Toronto, you can probably expect a few more homers: He has hit extremely well there throughout his career (.820 SLG, eight homers in 13 games, including one in the 2022 AL Wild Card Series). And, oh yes, Julio Rodríguez has been known to have some dramatic moments for the Mariners as well. He struggled mightily in the ALDS, but Rodríguez remains fully capable of taking over a playoff series.
These are two compulsively likable teams with big-name superstars you can’t help but root for. These are also franchises whose fans have waited a long, long time for this moment. In a week or so, either the Blue Jays or the Mariners are going to be in the World Series. That’s incredible! And it will be the stars who lead them.
