TORONTO — The Blue Jays and Mariners will meet in the American League Championship Series, the matchup no one saw coming when the season began.
The Mariners advanced late Friday night with a 3-2 win over the Tigers in a postseason game for the ages, a 15-inning marathon they’ll be talking about in Seattle for years. Jorge Polanco was the long-awaited hero in Game 5 of the American League Division Series, but outside of Mariners fans, few people enjoyed that game more than the Blue Jays.
Toronto watched it all unfold in as Seattle burned through its bullpen, including starters Logan Gilbert and Luis Castillo after George Kirby gave them five-plus excellent innings earlier in the night. Just as the Blue Jays got to kick their feet up with a bye to the ALDS as the No. 1 seed in the American League, they’ll once again have the freshest pitching staff and all the time they need to set their rotation against an opponent who is scrambling into town. There’s no denying the value of momentum in October, though, and the Mariners are riding a tidal wave of it.
This will be the Mariners’ first trip to the ALCS since 2001 and the Blue Jays’ first since 2016, signalling a shift in the power structure of the American League. The Mariners are still seeking their first World Series and the Blue Jays their first since 1993, when they went back to back.
These two teams have been forever tied since coming into the league as expansion franchises in 1977. The Blue Jays’ annual trips to Seattle have long been the scene of a Canadian invasion, fans from western Canada pouring into T-Mobile Park to watch their team. There’s recent history, too, going back to the 2022 Wild Card Series in Toronto, when the Mariners erased an 8-1 deficit to eliminate the Blue Jays in their own house.
“We’ve been together on this,” Vladimir Guerrero Jr. said after clinching the ALDS. “And maybe some people don’t believe in the team through the year, but I always remind everyone that we have an entire country behind us that believe in us, and hopefully we can get the World Series back to Canada.”
The coming two days leading up to Game 1 Sunday, will help to set the scene, including some major updates expected on the potential returns of Mariners starter Bryan Woo and Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette. A fantastic matchup has been locked in, though, with each club just four wins away from the World Series appearance it’s been chasing for far too long.
When is the game and how can I watch it?
First pitch is scheduled for 8:03 p.m. ET on Sunday at Rogers Centre and can be seen in the United States on FOX.
Blue Jays fans in Canada can tune in via Sportsnet and Sportsnet+ for the broadcast with Buck Martinez, Dan Shulman and Hazel Mae, or listen to the radio call with Ben Shulman and Chris Leroux on Sportsnet 590 The FAN.
All series are available in the US on MLB.TV with authentication to a participating Pay TV provider. Games also are available live internationally, although not in Canada. Sportsnet is MLB’s exclusive English language broadcaster in Canada for every Postseason game, while TVA Sports will be covering the entire AL Postseason and the World Series in French and Broadcaster RDS will cover the entire NL Postseason in French.
Who are the starting pitchers?
Blue Jays: Kevin Gausman (10-11, 3.59 ERA) leads the Blue Jays into the ALCS against the Mariners, just like he did in the ALDS against the Yankees. This leaves rookie sensation Trey Yesavage (1-0, 3.21 ERA) for a likely Game 2 start, a one-two punch the Blue Jays have to feel confident in, even against the Mariners’ excellent staff.
Gausman faced the Mariners back on May 9, allowing three runs on seven hits over 5 1/3 innings with just three strikeouts. Remember, it was Gausman who started Game 2 of the AL Wild Card Series against Seattle back in 2022, so he finally has his shot at revenge in October.
The real decision for the Blue Jays — after Shane Bieber — comes with how the Blue Jays fill the fourth spot in their rotation. Max Scherzer and Chris Bassitt are both options after being left off the ALDS roster, but the Blue Jays’ bullpen game worked very well in the Game 4 clinch over the Yankees.
Mariners: Bryce Miller, the only healthy starter who did not pitch in Seattle’s thrilling win in Game 5 of the AL Division Series, will get the nod in ALCS Game 1. Miller started Game 4 of the ALDS on Wednesday in Detroit, throwing 55 pitches over 4 1/3 innings in an eventual loss that forced the winner-take-all Game 5, so he’ll be making this start on only three days’ rest.
What might the starting lineups look like?
Blue Jays: Let’s start with how this could look including Bichette. If he returns, it’s likeliest as a DH to start, which would force George Springer to play a corner outfield spot. That would leave the Blue Jays to choose between Anthony Santander or Nathan Lukes in the other corner. If Bichette does not return for this series, expect the Blue Jays to roll out something very similar to the lineups that faced right-handers Cam Schlittler and Luis Gil in the ALDS.
Mariners: Manager Dan Wilson regularly deployed a more consistent daily lineup throughout the regular season, and that was particularly true once the entire roster came together after the Trade Deadline. And that has remained in the playoffs, with the only factors changing based on the opposing pitcher’s handedness. In that context, he’ll likely roll out a lineup nearly identical to what he used in the ALDS against Detroit’s right-handed starters.
How will the bullpens line up after the starter?
Blue Jays: Fresh off a fantastic bullpen game to clinch against the Yankees, this group has some real momentum. Any consideration for Scherzer and Bassitt could put the roster spots of Justin Bruihl and Tommy Nance on the bubble, but the core group looks awfully solid right now.
Louis Varland bounced back from giving up the big home run to Aaron Judge in Game 3, the lefties have looked sharp and Seranthony Domínguez is the most proven playoff performer of the bunch. It’s all going to come down to Jeff Hoffman eventually, though, coming off his uneven season (4.37 ERA, 33 saves). He allowed one run on two hits over 1 1/3 innings in his final outing against the Yankees, but when he’s been “on,” he’s looked dominant.
Mariners: This is where things are going to get awfully interesting in the opening acts of the series, as the Mariners burned through everyone in their all-hands-on-deck effort in ALDS Game 5. Yet the fact that its series vs. Detroit went the distance also speaks to how heavily that group had been used even before the winner-take-all showdown, as the Mariners’ relievers racked up 23 2/3 innings in the series (not including Castillo and Gilbert), which was the most innings of any LDS team other than the Tigers/ 28. Andrés Muñoz, Matt Brash and Eduard Bazardo — three of their four highest-leverage arms — each tallied their longest career outings at one point in the ALDS.
And Gabe Speier, who’d been their lefty lynchpin, showed vulnerability by surrendering momentum-swinging homers in Games 4 and 5. The Mariners don’t even know how they’re going to allocate their rotation’s innings in the early leg of this ALCS, but the heavy workload of their bullpen is equally worth monitoring.
Blue Jays: Bichette’s left knee sprain is, of course, the biggest story around the Blue Jays in the days leading up to Game 1. Bassitt (lower back) is healthy now and Ty France (oblique) has been facing live pitching, but is likely still on the outside of the roster bubble. José Berríos (right elbow) has not been throwing recently and is likely done until 2026.
Mariners: Woo’s pectoral inflammation was their leading storyline entering the postseason. And after he was left off the ALDS roster, but with optimism toward a return in the ALCS, his status is again front and center. Woo threw an up-and-down bullpen session before Friday’s Game 5 and exhibited positive body language afterward, but he also didn’t ratchet up his intensity until his final pitches. While it was encouraging, if this was the regular season, it looked like a session that would be a precursor to a Minor League rehab assignment.
But this is the postseason, and Woo was their best starter in 2025. It seems unlikely that he’ll again be left off their roster, even if he’s not available until later in the series. But after the Mariners burned through so many arms in Game 5, getting him back sooner looms that much larger.
Who is hot and who is not?
Blue Jays: Who isn’t hot? As a team, across four games in the ALDS, the Blue Jays hit .338 with a .974 OPS. Guerrero went 9-for-17 (.529) with three home runs and a whopping nine RBIs, Clement went 9-for-14 (.643) and Varsho went 7-for-16 (.438 with a pair of home runs). Springer scraped together just three hits and Santander went only 2-for-10, but overall, the ALDS was the best the Blue Jays’ lineup had looked all season.
Mariners: Raleigh’s follow-up act to his 60-homer season was only one long ball in the ALDS. But he quietly put together a productive series, going 8-for-21 (.381) for a team-best 1.051 OPS — even if many of his knocks were slap singles. He’s also tormented in Toronto’s home park, with eight homers and a career 1.195 OPS in 13 games played at Rogers Centre, including their 2022 AL Wild Card Series win. He’ll need help from his supporting cast, though, as the rest of the Mariners hit .184 with a .579 OPS in the ALDS vs. Detroit.
