7 BURNING QUESTIONS Ahead of the Seattle Mariners’ ALCS Bout With the Toronto Blue Jays

7 BURNING QUESTIONS Ahead of the Seattle Mariners’ ALCS Bout With the Toronto Blue Jays

The Seattle Mariners are four wins away from their first ever World Series appearance, but the team they came into the league with 48 years ago stands in their way. You are Locked On Mariners, your daily Seattle Mariners podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. Ohoy sailors. It is Saturday, October 11th, 2025. This is Tingales and Colby Patnode for the Lockdown Merrors podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. This episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Download the FanDuel app today. And as always, if you want to hear from me and Colobby even more and help support the show, we have a Patreon. It’s called Control the Zone. And on there, we talk Mariners, Seahawks, all that good stuff. For more information, go to patreon.com/controlthezone. Link in the description. Pleased to be joined again by Anders Hurst. So the Mariners postcast to help us preview the ALCS between the Mars and Toronto Blue Jays. The show is going to go more or less the same as the last time we had Anders on. Uh I got some burning questions for these guys heading into the series. So we’re just going to go down the list and uh chat a little bit about this one. So uh to get us started here, uh real quick, let’s uh let’s put the ALDS to rest. Uh who’s your ALDS MVP for the Mariners, Anders? Oo. uh just hard-hitting right off the rip. Uh I’d got to go Andreas Munoz. Uh when the rest of the bullpen was shaky at best, uh he’s the only one who never faltered. Um giving just uh nails performance after nails performance. You could shout out Cal Raleigh, too, obviously with how well he played at the plate, but I got to go Andres Munoz just because he was the only guy who showed up every single time uh when you needed him to. Absolutely. So, uh, that that’s that’s mine for for the ALDS for sure. I’ll go with the guy who actually had to show up all five games and was really bad in one of them, but very good in the other four. Uh, and it’s kind of a guy who I I claimed early this year as as my breakout candidate. And I’m going to go with Bazardo. He was really good last night. Um, you know, and and I think people kind of forget like you see the same guy five games in a row, it’s pretty easy to pick up things on that guy that you didn’t know before. So yeah, dominating game one, game two, fine, whatever. Uh but for him to, you know, implode in game four and then bounce right back in game five and give you what was it? Seven outs, eight outs. Uh you know, high leverage outs uh against a team that has literally seen him in every other game of the series. Uh pretty darn impressive. Uh and you know, it’s real easy to go with Palano. Uh Palano had some big hits, no question. obviously, you know, the big hit last night, but uh I I think, you know, I think most people will go with Blanco, but I’m I’m going to give some love to the bullpen guys because for the most part, they were really good this series. Um although I think all of them except for Munoz had uh a rough inning here and there. So, it is what it is. But yeah, I think I’ll go Bazardo. And then, yeah, I think shout out to to Polo and Munoz. Uh and also Logan Gilbert. I think probably deserves some props here uh for what he did yesterday. And also obviously the start in game three. Yeah, Gilbert was a guy that I heavily considered here. George Kirby as well, even though that you know they lost in in game one. Uh still like he was Yeah, he was fantastic in this series. Fantastic. Especially last night. Uh but yeah, I’m going to go with Jorge Palanco. I mean, he was a massive reason that you beat Terk Scoo in game two and and obviously he has the walk-off last night. So I think that’s a pretty safe call. But uh yeah. So Josh Naylor, if the series is only three games long, he might have been the guy, but the first two games count. So unfortunately, yeah, but yeah, Nails was Nails after uh after the kid came, Nails was really good. So it’s like the opposite of Julio, right? First two games that Yeah, they passed off the baton. Yeah, sure did. But you know, but like we talked about, I think it was after game two maybe. No, it was game three. After game three, you and I talked about this, Kobe, like it felt like Josh was close. like he had some really good swings in the series, just had nothing to show for it, and then he has what, six hits over the final two games. Uh, so what are your biggest questions heading into the series, Colobby? Dan Wilson. Okay. Like I think he managed a pretty good game last night. I’ll give him that. But yeah, uh, you know, it was, we talked about this last night. It was funny that like the basically the same exact situation came up three times, all of them at home. And it was, do you go to Gabe Spy? First game he didn’t home run. Boom. Next game he does, gets paid off, strike out. And then the final game he goes to him and home run. Uh, so, you know, kind of had the wide r wide range there. But this bullpin, it feels like it’s an arm short like we’ve been saying for the last two months. And that puts Dan in some really awkward spots. And I don’t know if I trust him to pull the trigger on it. Uh but I think in a you know bigger sense of things I am worried about the bullpen and how many innings they can cover. Uh because again like Bazardo has pitched every game this postseason after seemingly pitch every other game in the regular season. Uh you know Munoz has had to go a couple innings a couple times and he didn’t do that at all this year and so Brash is is you know actually been pretty solid in the playoffs which is a nice surprise. Um, but uh, yeah, I just there’s not a lot of guys in this bullpen I trust. And it’s kind of tough to trust Gabe Spire after his last couple of outings. Uh, and in this series, there’s not a ton of of high quality lefties in this Blue Jays lineup. So, I’m not quite sure how they’re going to handle him. Uh, you know, is he going to be asked to get George Springer? Is he going to be asked to get Vlatty at some probably at some point? Yeah, it’s definitely more so going to be Vo, Lucas, and uh, and Barger, right? Those are going to be the key guys, the guys who are going to kill you. uh you know in these spots are gonna be Vlatty Springer and maybe Bette. So I’m a little worried about the the pitching uh holding up after the the grueling series they just had. But uh yeah, I mean lots to be worried about, lots to be excited about, but I think the bullpen uh and how Dan manages it is is my biggest concern. Yeah, Anders. Yeah, for me it’s I’m going to go more starting pitching here. Um because we obviously kind of see them empty the tank in game five uh against the Tigers, which they had to do. Not saying it’s the wrong thing to do whatsoever, but uh and we see the decision to go to Bryce Miller in game one, which is a little questionable to me. Uh Kobe, I saw your tweet. You and I have, I think, a similar thought on this. It seems like Castillo would have been a little bit more of a easier decision for me. He’s thrown 14 pitches in the seven days that would lead up to the game versus uh 50 55 I believe for Bryce Miller in the five days leading up to the game. I realize he just pitched in the most previous game, but again that was only 14 pitches should be able to get back up to at least close to 100% by Sunday. Um and he’s just been a better pitcher uh for the majority for the entirety of this year. So yeah, uh that’s a little bit questionable, but again then it it kind of goes to the question of what’s Brian Woo going to look like if he is going to be available? Uh is is George Kirby and Logan Gilbert? I have a little less questions with them. I think they’ve proven that they’re the guys in this part of the postseason, but the Blue Jays just destroy the Yankees. And I realize I think honestly, similar to how the Detroit series kind of was a tough matchup for Seattle’s pitching, I think the Toronto series was a tough matchup for uh the New York’s pitching. And I think this I’m not saying that uh Toronto’s a worse offense than Detroit, but I think it matches up a little bit better to Seattle just because they have fewer lefties that really scare me. Uh and and Seattle of course really only has two left-handed pitchers. Really only one if you really don’t want to see Kayla Ferguson in a game. So, uh it matches up well, but you that doesn’t mean that everything’s going to go to plan. So, uh just the overall starting pitching is what I’m looking at how they’re going to deal with that after emptying the tank in game five. Yeah. So, uh, my biggest question really is Bobett’s health right now. Um, how’s that knee looking? I know he’s been doing some light jogging, all that. Uh, there is a thought that he could just exclusively DH in this series, which could create a little bit of a headache there for John Schneider and and putting these lineups together because that’s going to have to push George Springer into an outfield spot. And that means that one of Anthony Santandere uh or um Nathan Lucas or Daltton Vo is going to have to hit the bench. So how are they going to work around that? And just how much of an impact is Bett going to have especially if he does get on base. So what is that all going to look like? That’s that’s a real big piece of this. But I mean, even without Bashette, it’s a really really dangerous lineup and and they’ve gotten a lot of contributions. You know, obviously from Vlad and and Springer and and Alejandro Kirk, but like one through nine, there’s there’s a lot of dudes in this lineup. Ernie Clement has been really solid this year. Nathan Lucas has been really really good this year. Var’s had a great season. Uh Barger’s been incredible. I mean, we we remember what he did to the Bears when when the Blue Jays were in that guy. Yeah, definitely don’t do that. Definitely don’t do that. So yeah, um yeah, Bette to me is is the the the biggest question here is at least on on the on the Blue Jays side of things. And then uh yeah, like you you mentioned Anders, the the starting rotation going with Miller in game one. What is he going to look like going up against this lineup, this is a very very different lineup than the Tigers lineup. They fell off a ton of pitches. They put the ball in play a ton. They don’t really strike out. like uh this is going to be a fascinating matchup for this starting rotation which doesn’t really line up well with this in and uh on paper. So, we’ll we’ll see how it goes. All right, got some more questions for these guys in just a moment. But first, a reminder, this episode of the Lockowners podcast is brought to you by FanDuel. The NFL season is here and FanDuel is making sure you’re ready for kickoff with a can’tmiss offer. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. FanDuel makes every game more exciting. Whether you’re watching your team or just keeping an eye on your fantasy lineup, it’s quick, easy, and the best way to add a little more energy to Sundays. So, are you ready to play? Download the FanDuel app now by visiting fanuel.com to get started. That’s fuel.com to place your first $5 bet. And you’re listening to the Lockdown Mariners podcast. For instant reactions following every Mariners playoff game, be sure to tune in to the Mariners postcast with Anders here and Christopher Crawford available on both the Lockdown Mariners YouTube and podcast feeds. Going through some burning questions heading into the ALCS between the Mariners and the Blue Jays. Next question here. What are your impressions of the Blue Jays, Anders? Uh they’re a really good team. I think you described it well in our last segment there. They’re gonna really kind of battle in every single at bat uh offensively. Um and they have one of the best hitters in baseball in Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Uh he’s also just on a different level right now. At least he was in the Yankee series. Hopefully he got, you know, all of that out in one series. So he’s but he’s just been a really good player for a long time. Uh can’t overlook George Springer uh either. He was in the MVP conversation for a lot of this year uh until it kind of tailed off towards the end. So, I mean, he’s he’s been tearing the cover off the ball lately. Uh, it’s just a really good offense. I don’t think the pitching is uh they don’t have a Ter Scoo. They don’t have someone who really scares me where uh like going into game five uh it’s like, “Oh god, what are the Mariners going to do? They just got to get this guy out of the game.” Um, but their bullpen has been shaky as well. Uh, so that’s not necessarily a strength. It’s not like uh they have a long bullpen to rely on. So, I think this offense might have a better series uh in this in this one versus the Detroit series, but uh you got to slow down their bats. That’s going to be the main thing. Uh it’s going to be how how effective uh our pitchers are against that offense is going to be the huge thing for for Toronto in this series. Yeah, they make a lot of contact. Uh, which, you know, Mariners pitching hasn’t been great at retiring hitters in a timely fashion, uh, this year or in the playoffs really. Uh, so, you know, long at bats are going to happen. You just have to deal with it. Uh, I also, you know, perhaps I’m wrong here because I don’t watch every Blue Jays game, but they can also run out a defense that is better than anybody in baseball with Bartow and Miles Straw and even Springer can still play a little bit and Bet solid. Yeah, you know, Bett’s solid if he does play it short. Uh like they can Kirk is one of the better defensive catchers in baseball. Like they can really, you know, prevent runs with their defense, which is great for them because they don’t have elite starting pitching. You Savage has been very good as has Gossman. Uh but those are not, as you said, those are not scubables, and that’s no disrespect to them. There’s only one scoo in the in the world right now. So yeah, it the pitching won’t be as good. the bullpin probably about on par with with Detroit. Um, so they don’t have a wool vest though. No, I mean Hoffman’s supposed to be that guy, but been he hasn’t really been. Yeah. Yeah. So, like the pitching should be better or sorry, the pitching Detroit’s pitching should be better on paper than anything that Toronto can throw at you, but Toronto’s defense is is significantly better. And they’re starting to hit the home run here in the postseason and that is a terrifying combination. Team that doesn’t strike out and hits home runs, like that’s that’s tough. And, you know, they catch everything in in the air and and they’ve got three center fielders out there. It’s it’s they’re really strong up the middle defensively. It’s a tough matchup for Seattle, but uh you know, it is one that didn’t go their way this year, but we know that in the past the Mariners have had pretty good success against the Blue Jays, both in Toronto and in Seattle. So, we’ll see how it goes for them this year. But, yeah, I just think of defense. Uh and I think of a relentless lineup that is also starting to hit home runs in the postseason. And that that’s like that’s the trio right there. Elite run prevention. When you hit home runs and you don’t strike out, you’re going to win a lot of ball games. Yeah, they looked like a wagon in that Yankees series. So, yeah, this is going to be a really, really tough lineup to get through and again because not only because of the star power and you know, while Carrie Carpenters, you know, was fantastic in that series and he was a massive massive problem to deal with and you know, we know about Riley Green and all those guys, that’s nothing compared to Vladimir Guro Jr. here and the kind of year that George Springer is having at the plate and all that and Addison Bargers break out all that. So, this is just a very different lineup to deal with and on top of that they’re super super annoying. Yeah. So, yeah, I mean this really does come down to like you mentioned Anders getting into that Blue Jays bullpen. That is the very clear defined weakness on this club and that means that you’re going to have to get through Kevin Gossman. You’re going to have to get through Shane Bieber who’s been very good since returning to the mound. You got to get through Trey Ya Savage who’s been a revelation uh here over the you know the last couple of weeks. Uh and you know there’s also going to be Max Sherzer potentially or Chris Basset. I mean Jose Bario’s going to start for them. Yeah. You think he’s out for the year? Yeah, he’s down for the year. But uh you know Sherzer like he’s not the he’s not Max Scherzer anymore, but that’s obviously a guy that’s pitched in a ton of big games and so you know that’s something that you’re going to have to deal with. So, getting through those guys, getting into that Blue Jays bullpen, that’s going to be the key to the series for the Mariners. All right. Uh, next question here. Uh, outside of the obvious names, give me one key player for both the Mariners and the Blue Jays, Colobby. For the Blue Jays, outside the obvious names, uh, I think it’s I mean, is Jeff Hoffman an obvious name? I expect these games to be close. Yeah. Uh, and Hoffman has been not what they paid for. uh he’s had moments where he’s been pretty good, but for the most part, he’s not been what they paid for and he’s gonna have to get some, you know, some big outs in this series. And if he struggles like he has this year, it could cost Toronto everything. So, like I think Hoffman is probably a name there. Also, I just I really don’t want to see Addison Barger throw guys out again. I just I no just know the arms, guys. Know the arms. um for the Mariners. Um yeah, I mean it’s kind of tough to come up with a underrated name uh because everybody knows everybody. I would say that I think this could potentially be a big uh Matt Brash series and I don’t again I don’t know if that’s underrated or whatever but uh with the number of key righties in this lineup like Gabe Spire facing the lefties in the last series this series it’s going to come down to Matt Brash or Bizardo but we talked about Bazardo so I’m going with Brash and you know this is pretty interesting in game two or was it game game game two uh Brash had the swing and miss stuff and and he gave up a couple runs although he shouldn’t have the the air blah blah blah. but he had swing and miss stuff. And last night he looked really good. Didn’t generate many whiffs, you know, and so it really is you kind of get these two different versions of Matt Brash. One that just gets a ton of ground balls and one that gets a ton of whiffs. You don’t know which one you’re going to get, but there’s a pretty good chance you’re going to need both of those guys to show up at some point in the series. And whether he can or can’t, I think probably determines the winner of one or two of these games. And one or two games is the margin. Yeah, for me it’s Alejandro Kirk for the Blue Jays. uh he’s kind of that connection between those those big boys at the top of the lineup and then like the underrated stars at the bottom of the lineup. He has really quietly been one of the best catchers in baseball over the past like for the entire season both offensively and defensively and he’s just kept continued to do it in the playoffs. Uh so that’s going to be one guy that I’m I’m watching. uh if you kind of limit him, the lineup feels a lot shorter u for Toronto and just in terms of you know the guys that you can uh feel confident in uh going up against especially later in games. And then for this uh for the Mariners uh it’s Brian Woo. I know it’s not necessarily underrated, but having that one extra guy can mean the difference in so many ways. Whether it’s getting a guy that’s lined up to start on regular rest, whether it’s having that extra guy come out of the bullpen, that’s the difference between the possibility of maybe seeing Emerson Hancock in this series, uh, versus something where everything seems to line up perfectly. One guy can be that entire difference. And having him, if he’s healthy and he’s who he’s been for the entirety of this year, I think that’s a huge step uh for for Seattle winning this series. All right, got a few more questions for these guys in just a moment, but first a reminder, this episode of the Locker podcast is brought to you by Rouette. Fellas, you’ve probably heard of Viagra or Seialis. Maybe you’ve even tried them. But if you’re looking for something beyond the usual pill, it’s time to meet Rouette Golong. This isn’t just another ED pill. It’s a total gamecher for confidence. Golong combines two doctor trusted medications and one dualaction formula so you can get hard and go the distance. 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Uh but also I I think they’re a flawed team which means that they are totally susceptible to to losing uh multiple games and and they’re been they’ve been a very streaky team all year even after the big additions at the trade deadline. So, you know, I think I feel about the same like they could sweep the Blue Jays and I wouldn’t be shocked. They could get swept by the Blue Jays and I wouldn’t be shocked. There’s just not a lot of consistency here uh with this club and with who performs and who doesn’t. Uh so, you know, I felt that way about the Tiger series. You know, I know a lot of people thought it was going to be a cakewalk. I think we all kind of tried to pump the brakes on that and be like, it’s going to be four or five really tough games, and I I feel like it’s probably going to be the same with Toronto because I just don’t know how, you know, what team’s going to show up on any given night or what, you know, what hitters are going to show up on any given night. But, you know, the Mariners are playing at their 100th percentile and the Blue Jays are playing at their 100th percentile. I think the Mariners are a better team. But how much confidence do I have that they’ll play at their 100th percentile? Less than 100%. So it’s one of those things where I think I feel about the same. You know, the Mariners could win eight in a row and and hoist the trophy and and cool. I wouldn’t be shocked. Um I mean be shocked, but for a different reason. Uh or they could just, you know, lose four in a row here and be done and we’ll have a weird conversation late late in the week next week and and that’ll be that. Like nothing will surprise me with this team. So, I really don’t think much has changed. Um, there were no big performances that have like like if Randy Rosarena had gone like nine for 19 or something with three home runs in this series and I’m like, “Oh, Ry’s hot.” Like, yeah, that might change. Or or if Gino had gotten redot, that might have changed things. But neither of those things happened. And those two guys are kind of like X-factors in this. Like, if they get hot at the same time, or even one of them gets hot, that can change everything. But they didn’t in this last series. So, you know, pitching was about what I expected. Bullpin was about what I expected. Everybody else kind of did their job. So, uh I feel about the same. Yeah, I feel I I think I feel a little bit better. Uh not by a huge margin, but the main reason for me is because it felt like after game four, uh losing in that fashion when you were up three-0, you had multiple chances. It felt like it was there for you to win. Detroit felt dead in the water. uh and then losing that one, kind of foregoing all the momentum, then facing Scubal in game five. You had all the opportunity to just lay down and kind of be done. Uh and the fact that they didn’t do that tells me that these guys are just a different kind of breed than previous Mariners teams that we’ve experienced in the past. both that and I almost feel like I think part of it in their heads and I don’t know players are probably different but for me as a fan um if you had gone out in the ALDS it still would have felt a lot like this season was a failure uh in many ways because of how everything lined up. I think you’re kind of in a way playing with house money at this point. If the Mariners because they’ve done something for the first time in 24 years if they lose in the ALCS they it’s like okay they’d still got to this point. Um I think that’s what most fans were at least at the very least asking for was to get to this point. I’m not saying I won’t be disappointed uh if they don’t move on to the World Series, but it almost feels like the pressure is off a little bit where um the Toronto is the number one seed. They’re coming in not with homefield advantage. Um they kind of got the Detroit monkey off their back. So it just kind of feels like at this point the Mariners uh have gotten to the point in the season where they’re playing with house money a little bit. So I again I’m not saying I’m going to be uh totally okay if they go out in four in this, but uh it feels like they’ve gotten the monkey off their back and they can just go and win the whole effing thing according to Cal. So I don’t know. I feel a little bit better because they were able to come back a little bit in that Detroit series. Long story short, yeah, I should clarify like in terms of how I view the season. Yeah, it’s changed because we talked about this last year or last week like, hey, if they lose this series to Detroit, a team they’re clearly better than. Is it a successful season? I mean, yeah, they won the division, they were the number two seed, but they didn’t advance any further than they did in 2022. But you get to the ALCS, like you get swept, it’s still a very successful season. There’s really no debate to be had about that. But in terms of like, do I feel better about their odds of winning on a night-to-ight basis because they beat the Tigers? No. I don’t. I feel about the same. So, just to clarify, yeah, to to your guys’ points, um, yeah, I do feel like at the very least like the the pressure on the fan base is kind of lifted. Yeah. Because of winning the playoff series because again, like you got the 60 homer season out of Cal. You won the division for the first time in 24 years. You made the playoffs for just the second time in in 24 years. You know, all these you you went out, you made the biggest, boldest trades at the deadline, all all that stuff, right? And if you went out and you lost in the first round. Yeah. That’d be a very tough pill to swallow. You’d be the Phillies. Yeah. Yeah. And that’s just that’s a tough pill to swallow, especially because there are so many questions that are going to have to be answered uh going into this off season, right? Yep. So, uh yeah. So, I do feel like at the very least getting to the ALCS, being one of the uh the final four teams, also getting past the Tigers team that just you were straight up better then. Yes. Like on paper like Yeah, they they had a great series and like shout out to those guys. like they they were they gave you everything that they had to offer. But uh you know it it would have sucked frankly losing to them whereas losing to the Blue Jays that’s a really really good team right losing to you know if you make it to the World Series if you lose to the Dodgers or the Brewers or whoever like those are very very very good teams if that happens you know it just is what it is like at that point it’s just best on best right and so um you know we’ll see how it goes but like I I do feel like that aspect of of all of this has kind of gone away And ultimately, no matter what happens here, like obviously we’re all going to be disappointed if they get eliminated in this round or if they don’t win the World Series, but like I I feel like at the end of it, like we’re still going to look on look back on this season fondly. Yes. And look toward uh 2026 with really nothing but hope. Obviously, a lot of questions, but really, you know, mostly hope after uh after this year. Yeah. And I want to clarify like again if they end up losing this series, if they get swept and look terrible, it’s not that I’m a not expecting them to win. It’s not that I am okay if they lose or anything like that. It’s more just like once you look back, I think you put it perfectly there, Ty. Once you look back on this season, I think you no matter what happens now, you will find it a success. Yeah. Yeah. Because I I think if you just lost in the ALDS, there just would have been a lot of like could, would a, should have. Yeah. Yeah. And then, you know, we would have spent like the whole off season talking about blowing the three 0 lead in game four and not winning game one. 15 innings. Yeah. Yeah. And all Yeah. And all that, right? So, opportunities. Yeah. Yeah. And then just, you know, talking about like the conversation would be about wasting Cal season and, you know, all and I feel like some of that I’m sure there will still be a little bit of that involved in the conversation here if they do lose in the ALCS just cuz, you know, that’s just how things are. But uh but in general, I think for the most part, like we can just kind of appreciate the season. I think I think winning just that playoff series, having that moment last night, I think that that goes a long way for how we talk about the the season, no matter what happens from here on out. All right, next question here. Um I’m not asking you to predict a winner. I never would. But uh how many games will this series go? Anders. Oo, I think it at least goes six to be completely honest. Um, I think Detroit’s a sorry, uh, Toronto’s a better team than Detroit, but I still think it’s going to be there going to be a ton of close games. Uh, yeah, and the way Toronto plays is in a way another bad matchup for Seattle. Um, but I still think the pitching is going to get the job done. I think they’re going to quiet Toronto’s bats a little bit more, at least more than the Yankees did. My god. Uh, so I I still have faith in these guys. There’s going to be a couple moments, there’s going to be a couple bullpen decisions that make us pull our hair out. It’s just the way it goes. Uh, but I still I think it at least goes six games. Mariners in four. Wow. In four. Because it’s the Mariners. Yeah. I don’t really think it matters who they’re playing. I think this is going to a game seven. Like I just I I don’t game seven, 16 innings. They could be playing like the Marlins and I would still predict they would go seven. Like it’s just how the Mariners do business, you know, and so yeah. Um but yeah, I think this will be a long series. Um you know, I think if Seattle can steal one of these first two games in Toronto, I think that would be huge. Uh you get three in a row at home. you know, hopefully you you sweep and you clinch at home and go to the World Series on your home field, but like whatever. If you can find a way to win two or three at home, then you’re in the driver’s seat and all that. So, I think winning one of these first two games is huge for Seattle. If that does happen, then yeah, I anticipate the series to go at least six. Um, if Seattle loses these first two games at that point, it’s kind of like, I hope it goes five. Like, let’s at least get to a game five. But uh yeah, so I think these first two games are pretty big and obviously Toronto’s got a huge advantage because they got to sit down and do nothing for the last two days there. But uh I think you can that’s why you know you can steal one. That’s why I say you can try and steal one from uh from Toronto here. If you can do that then I feel like you’re in pretty good shape to get this series to you know six or seven games. But if you lose these first two, then I think it might be a four or five game series, which not great, but uh you know, take what you can get and and uh take your chances. So I I guess I I’ll I’ll split the difference and I’ll say six games like Anders. So what do we think this this wasn’t on my on my show sheet here, but what do we think the uh the crowd is going to look like at T-Mobile Park? Because a lot is being made of that. And I don’t I don’t think it’s going to be like how these series typically look with all the Blue Jays fans that invade T-Mobile Park cuz I mean one like these tickets were sold in advance and two again like there’s just so much interest you know in the in the Seattle area in this team right now and and into and to going to these games. So, I don’t think it’ll be like heavy Blue Jay. I think there will be some Blue Jays fans and probably more Blue Jays fans than there were Tigers fans, but I don’t think it’s going to be I I don’t think we’re going to see, you know, hu like we’re going to hear super loud let’s go Blue Jays chances and stuff like that. Like, I don’t think we’re going to get that. But, I’m skeptical. Sorry, Colobe. Uh I’m I’m skeptical of that. I I originally I had the same feeling, Ty, but then I kind of thought of it like you could basically pay for most of your post if you were one of those fans, lucky fans who gets to buy the entire postseason, you could pay for your whole postseason package by selling one game worth one game’s worth of tickets because on the secondary market. So, I think there’s a lot of people that are going to think that way to be completely honest. I know. I don’t think it’s going to be anything where close to 50% Blue Jays fans or anything like that, but there will be a large contingent. Uh I I think that’s just the way it is. And there there’s a lot of Blue Jays fans that are thinking the same thing. This is basically their home game. It’s going to be similar to how it is for during the regular season where, you know, all the people from Vancouver are going to be coming down and they won’t get to go to games at Toronto, but they can go to games here. So, right. I hope it’s not. I I really really hope that what you’re saying is true that like this the Mariners are the story in town. Uh that there’s going to be such a demand for Mariners fans to go to these games that it will kind of overwhelm the the demand for Toronto fans. Uh but I just don’t know if that’s going to necessarily be the case. I really hope I’m wrong. Uh I think it’ll be a noticeable but not overwhelming presence. I I’m thinking like I don’t know I they sell out at like 475 but for just easy math we’ll call it 50. If there’s 50,000 people there I think 40,000 to 42,000 are Mariner fans and everybody else is you know Blue Jay fan. That would be my guess. So 15 20% at most. U but that’s you know that’s obviously not noticeable and that that’s sizable. So, um, yeah, I don’t think it’ll be anywhere close to like Plus, you know, when the Blue Jays come into town, those tickets in the regular season, those tickets are like 40 bucks. Yeah. 60 bucks, 70 bucks, 350, 400 bucks to get in. Uh, and climbing, by the way. So, it’s one of those things like it’s not the easiest ticket to get. It’s also very expensive. There’s also the travel involved and all that, but I do think it’ll be a noticeable number of Blue Jay fans, but it won’t be anything close to what we see in the regular season. All right, so last question here. Uh, you know, we’ve talked about key players, we’ve talked about your biggest questions, all that. Uh, what do you think will ultimately determine how this series goes though, Colobby? Starting pitching versus Springier, Vlad, Bashette, and starting pitching versus Randy, Julio, and Cal. Stars have to be stars, you know, and at the end of the day, that’s what it comes down to. And it’s fun when the Leo Revas has come off the bench and and they deliver. And it’s it’s hilarious when, you know, you score your run off a scubble with a check swing double and the slowest guy in baseball stealing third base. and the guy who can’t hit with two strikes gets a screaming liner into center field to to like that’s awesome and fun and all that, but you can’t have your top three guys go one for 19 with, you know, 12 strikeouts and expect to win playoff games. And so, uh, I I think it’s going to be this whoever stars play better. And it’s it’s a boring answer. I know. I get that. But, like, this is when you got you you need those guys to step up. And Cal had a good series overall. He did not have a very good game at the plate last night, but overall, he had a very good series. So, I’m not too worried about Cal, especially at that ballpark. U but uh you know, Julio was great in the first two games, terrible the next three. Randy never really got it going. Gino, he had the one moment in Detroit and then he was just nothing. He was worse than nothing. He hurt you. And so, it’s just one of those things where I think whoever stars play better, they’re going to win this game and or they’re going to win this series. And so how the right-handed heavy Mariners starting pitching and the right-handed heavy Toronto Blue Jays starting pitching attacks these star right-handed hitters plus Cal Raleigh. And whoever has the most success against each other, they’re going to win this series. So it’s Cal and it’s Cal versus Springer, it’s it’s, you know, or it’s Cal versus Vlad, it’s Julio versus Springer, it’s it’s, you know, Randy versus Kirk. Like that is going to determine who wins this series. Whoever stars play better, they’re going to win. Yeah. Uh, I think in general I would say the starting pitching for the Mariners, but since you kind of already touched on that, I’ll be different. And, uh, I’ll go, uh, the bullpens because we cannot have bad Gabe Spire like we’ve gotten the last two games. We cannot have a blowout from Bizardo. Uh, and the usage is going to be another thing that I’m looking at. And that’s the part where, you know, we talked about it earlier. I think if there’s one area, maybe starting pitching as well, but uh one area where the Mariners have the distinct advantage, it is in uh either the starting pitching or the bullpen. So once you get to the bullpen parts of these games, they’re going to be close. Like there’s there’s not going to be very many blowouts. You have to take advantage of those. Uh so and on both sides whether it’s the Blue Jays playing above what we expect them to be or the Mariners uh you know playing below there’s going to there’s going to be ways where uh this game’s become closer than they need to be. So I think if if the Mariners do what they need to do in the bullpen um whether it like I said Gabe Spire Matt I think Matt Brash is a great call Kobe in terms of a big guy in this series. He’s actually had better uh, you know, splits versus lefties than righties this year, which is a weird thing. So, I’m interested to see how that looks. Uh, Bazardo, I think, looked so good last night that I I almost forget his blow up earlier in the series. Munoz has been absolutely nails uh, all season and the last series as well. Uh, the big one’s going to be Gabe Spire for me and then anyone else that you have to use at that point, whether it’s a starter coming out of the bullpen or anything like that, it it’s going to be massive. So, I’m going to go bullpen usage and effectiveness as uh you know what’s going to tell me or you know how we’re going to evaluate this series coming down to the the last couple games. Yeah, I I’d just say this as well. I said it kind of as a joke in the last one of these we did. Assuming he makes the roster, you might need Emerson Hancock in the series. you know, like with with the righties that come up and with Hancock’s new arm slot and and the big sweeper and then going like very kind of I mean kind of Colin Snider from last year. Maybe a little Paul Seawald loopier slider though, sweeper, whatever we’re calling it. You might not have a choice. Like I this this is real character development, folks. This is Emmy awardwinning character development. I mean, we are at the point in the year that that Col’s like, “We might need Emerson Hancock.” This is I don’t like that we’re here, but this is what happens when you don’t give up the extra prospect to go get Don. So, yeah, you need somebody to step up and call me crazy, but I kind of trust Hancock right now more than I trust Caleb Ferguson and more than I trust Luke Jackson. So yeah, I mean I mean I don’t want to go too crazy, but perhaps I mean yeah, Vargas is is sketchy, but like I mean we’ll see how many of those guys even make the roster. I I don’t know if there’s going to be substantial changes there, but makes me want to take a look at Michael Fler a little bit, you know? But uh anyways, yeah, so we we’ll see how it goes. But uh it does feel like you’re going to need somebody not in your your core four open arms. They need to step up. So whether that’s Hancock, whether it’s Vargas, whether it’s somebody not on the roster right now, or maybe it’s Brian Woo pitching exclusively out of the bullpen, I don’t know, but it feels like you’re going to need somebody besides one of those four guys to step up because you’ve ridden those guys hard all year. You rode them hard in the last playoff series and and those things stack up on top of each other. So you’re going to need a fifth guy to emerge. You were hoping it was going to be Caleb Ferguson. I think that ship has sailed quite a while ago. And so is it Vargas? It has been at times, but he’s still super sketchy. So, who is that fifth guy going to be? I don’t know. But I don’t can’t imagine you’re going to win the series if the only four guys you’re willing to use out of your bullpen are the four guys you’ve used all year. One, you need to get Rowdy back somehow. Two, I I think you should let the Blue Jays get a big lead. I don’t know, something like maybe eight to one. just random score that you know just pops into my head. Uh I I think at that point you might have them right where you want them. Sounds about right. All right, that is going to do it for our show. Thank you so much for joining us here on the Locker’s Podcast. For Kobe Patnode and Andershurst, I’m Titan Gonzalez. Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at l_mmers. You can follow me at Titan Gonzalez, Colby at CPAD1, that’s cpat11, and Anders at Andershurst. We’re also on Blue Sky. You can follow me at TDG, Colby at MLB Colby, Anders at Anderson Hurst, and the show at Locked on Mirrors. You can also find us on Instagram at locked on mirrors. Have yourself a beautiful baseball day, and we’ll see you next time. Peace.

Ty and Colby are joined by Mariners POSTCAST host Anders Hirst to answer seven burning questions about the ALCS.

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