SEATTLE — Bryan Woo was smiling and high-fiving teammates after throwing an up-and-down bullpen session at T-Mobile Park on Friday afternoon, which was perhaps a positive sign as the matter of his roster status loomed, with the Mariners seeking to advance in the American League Division Series against the Tigers.
But the Mariners, who would go on to win a 15-inning thriller, 3-2, won’t truly know if it will be able to include him on its AL Championship Series roster until Saturday at the earliest, wanting to see how he recovers.
“We’ll see how he kind of bounces back from that,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said before the session and ahead of ALDS Game 5. “These are the decisions we’re going to have to make pretty quickly once this game concludes tonight. So yeah, we’ll cross that bridge when we get there, but we’re certainly hopeful.”
That bridge is now on the immediate horizon, and with even more pressing decisions after the Mariners quite literally emptied the rest of their rotation just to get through Friday’s Game 5.
Logan Gilbert (two innings, 34 pitches) and Luis Castillo (1 1/3 innings, 15 pitches) each came out of the bullpen in the winner-take-all contest behind George Kirby (five-plus innings, 66 pitches).
The Mariners were hardly in a spot to think that far ahead while in a champagne-soaked clubhouse on Friday night. But that focus will shift ASAP.
Woo threw about 15 pitches before a break then another 10, under the watchful eyes of Mariners director of pitching strategist Trent Blank and head athletic trainer Kyle Torgerson, both of whom Woo conferred with immediately after with positive reactions. Pitching coach Pete Woodworth, at one point, also stood in from both sides of the plate with a bat but obviously did not swing.
Woo, who was not on the ALDS roster due to pectoral inflammation, dialed up his intensity as the session went on and appeared to be closer to max effort by the end.
The Mariners would probably want to see at least one more session off a mound with a higher-level exertion before starting Woo in a playoff game — especially given that Friday was the three-week mark since he exited a Sept. 19 start in Houston with the issue.
Even at full strength, there’s also the workload component that the club must consider given how long Woo has been sidelined. If this were the regular season, they’d almost certainly send him on a Minor League rehab assignment to build pitch count.
Woo threw his first bullpen session exactly one week earlier, which was followed by a brief simulated game against live hitters on the T-Mobile Park playing surface. It’s unclear if he threw off a mound once the ALDS shifted to Detroit, though he was not seen doing so when the ballpark was open to media.
The Mariners have a quick turnaround to make any pitching decisions, on Woo and beyond, as ALCS Game 1 is slated for Sunday in Toronto at 8:03 p.m. ET (5:03 p.m. PT). And their 26-man roster is due that morning.
Gilbert would have been the easy pick to start Game 1 and would have had the Mariners gotten to Friday’s finish line in regulation. But he wound up pitching the 10th, 11th and part of the 12th. Then Castillo came on in the 13th and 14th. “La Piedra” had a limited workload, though, so perhaps he could still be in play early in the ALCS.
One would have to think — at this rate — Emerson Hancock might be in play, too.
In a perfect world, Woo would be ready in the coming days. But if he isn’t until later in the ALCS, they could be even more short-handed early in the best-of-seven series. Bryce Miller would be on short rest for Game 2, which is not an ideal spot given that he’s been on the IL twice this year related to bone spurs in his pitching elbow. Kirby would be on regular rest for Game 3.
If Woo were not included on the ALCS roster, the Mariners could conceivably replace him with a lower-leverage reliever later in the series, if he’s ready. But doing so would eliminate the replacement’s eligibility of returning for the following round.
Woo was the Mariners’ best pitcher in 2025, over which he went 15-7 with a 2.94 ERA (128 ERA+) across 186 2/3 innings in 30 starts, numbers that will likely earn him down-ballot votes for the AL Cy Young Award. He was also a first-time All-Star.
