The MLB Has NO ANSWER For The Seattle Mariners… Is This The Year? | Bad For Baseball Ep.145

[Music] The Toronto Blue Jays have no answer for what the Seattle Mariners are doing right now in the ALCS. What is up everybody? Welcome into Badford Baseball. I’m your host Nicholas Playalog joined alongside by Adam Pedal. Now it is no secret that we are Toronto Blue Jays fans here. Yep, we are Toronto Blue Jays fans here. We try to keep our bias out of it as much as possible. I don’t think that’s going to be possible today. Granted, the bias in me is telling me that we are getting absolutely spanked right now by what is a better ball team, the Seattle Mariners, whilst they were facing all the adversity in the world, 15 innings against the Detroit Tigers only less than a week ago, walked into Toronto in game one and put on a clinic of pitching. They beat them three to one in game one, limiting what was a very hot Toronto Blue Jays offense walking into this series. And then they followed that performance up with their own offensive outburst, putting up double digits and limiting Toronto to three runs. Quick thoughts right now on how damn good the Seattle Mariners are playing. I always thought the Mariners would be this damn good. Like the offense on paper is what I love the most. You look up and down that roster. You got Randy, he’s a legend in the playoffs. He he shows up in the big moments. Cal Raleigh, big dump dump with 60 homers. Julio Rodriguez, you know, like he hasn’t had that kind of postseason moment yet, but it feels like he’s he already had one the other night hitting a three-run bomb in that 10 to3 ball game. You know, Palanco Naylor’s a dog. Suarez is a a big boy. You know, like they just have such a good lineup on paper. It all began with that amazing trade deadline that they had. And I said this, you said this, as soon as they had that trade deadline, I thought they were the scariest team in the AL. And they’re going up against the Blue Jays in this series that many people were picking the Blue Jays to win. And all the betting sites had Blue Jays to win, but on paper, these guys are showing up right now. Like Blue Jays on paper are you could argue are definitely weaker in a lot of areas, but they’re showing up in all facets. You saw it with a 10 to3 game offensively. You’re seeing it with their bullpen right now. And you’re seeing it as well with the enough starting pitching you got in game one. Yeah, I just I think that uh Seattle is playing an incredible brand of baseball. There was no easy outs at all for that Toronto Blue Jays pitching staff, especially yesterday and we saw the Seattle Mariners and I think this is why I I am so enamored with their team and how they’ve built their roster because we’ve seen them now win two very different ball games and in completely different ways. The first one was a completely gritty performance by them. Their pitching really showed up. Bryce Miller, who is, you know, not supposed to be one of their elite pitchers by any stretch of the imagination, he was by far the worst. They they were desperate to throw him out because they pitched a 15 inning game on the Friday. And the the lowest part of their rotation limited what was the hottest offense in baseball walking into this series, you know, to to hardly anything at all, one earned run, right? their bullpen showed up and they were capable of winning a hard-fought pitching defense first gritty ball game. So that right there, they got that in their bag. Crazy. Two hits. Go keep going. But like crazy that they only got two hits the entire game. Two hits off of their worst pitcher, right? Showing that they can do that even when it’s not their race on the bump. They’re still capable of doing that. And then they follow that up by just putting on a clinic on offense and getting people on base, stealing bases. And then when the time is most opportune, when you got ducks on the pond, they come up with the big hit. And that’s when you see the home run ball. There was three home runs yesterday from the Seattle Mariners. Every single one of them had people on base. They had two threerun shots and then one two-run shot. And that is just something that if you’re the opposing team, I mean, you can give up solo homers. We’ve always talked about this. Solo homers are going to happen. That’s just part of the game. Even the the best pitchers in baseball will give them up. But when you’re giving up multiple three-run shots, game over. It’s game over. Game’s over. And one of the guys that hit those multiple home run shots, like multiple run home run shots, just a two-run shot was Josh Naylor. And look, maybe I’m infatuated by him because he is Canadian, but you got to love the way this guy plays baseball. It’s one of the best I’ve ever seen in a long time. Just, you know, look at the tool set this guy has. Like, you look at him, you’re like, “Okay, he’s a power hitter. Maybe he can flash the leather over there at first base.” But little I know he’s got the stolen base thing in his bag as well. He had 30 stolen bases this year. And that’s because of his a smart ability to read a pitcher’s delivery to the plate, time it up, and steal a bag. He stole a base yesterday standing up. And it wasn’t even like it was a defensive indifference at all. He stole it standing up. And Josh Naylor became the first player in Mariners history with at least three hits, one homer, and one stolen base in a playoff game. And who would have thought it would be Josh Naylor? He’s a ball player, man. Well, I’ll tell you what, this is something I like all the kids out there, this is the type of player that that I want you to look up to. seriously because not only did he have one of the most complete games that I’ve ever seen like just in the playoffs as a whole because he was also flashing the leather too over at first base. Oh yeah, while he was hurt. That’s what I was just going to bring up. Right. He was flashing the leather over there at first base. He was stealing bases. He had a big time home run. He had three hits. And on top of all of that, he was grimacing and wincing throughout the entire game. There was something wrong with either his right or his left. I I don’t know exactly, but it looked like it was either his his hip or his obliques or something like that. He wasn’t good. He was not 100%. And he was the best player on the field fighting through that adversity. That to me is is such a a great performance by Josh Naylor. And again, even as the the team that’s getting their asses whooped by him, I can just sit back here and really just give him a tip of the cap of respect for doing that. I wish that the Blue Jays played more like Josh Naylor. There’s one guy Barger probably tries to play like it, but uh he’s got the results right now. Another guy that’s really, you know, just kind of baffling me by how good he’s been this season is Jorge Palano. This guy for years has just always been this kind of nah he’s an okay bat. I mean look at the career regular season 772 average of 263. You know can play multiple positions out there if you need be. And you know he’s just kind of a filler like a role player type guy. This season though he bumped that OPS up to 821. Average is up to well to 265 but he hit the home run ball more this year. 26 home runs in the regular season and that’s transferring over into this playoffs. in the two games against Toronto, he’s driven in five runs, hitting a home run, having a four for nine um at the dish. Like that is just remarkable. So again, one of those guys in the four hole in the in this deep Mariners lineup with all these names, you got Jorge Palanco in the four hole delivering. So honestly, whatever they’re doing in Marinerland, it’s working well because you’re turning guys like Jorge Palanco into great players. Well, suddenly, right, that was something that kind of happened overnight for them or over the course of an offseason because last year the whole narrative was they couldn’t hit for and then all of a sudden this season, you know, you have one of the deepest lineups in baseball and it’s just so good because there’s no free outs at all that up and down that lineup. There’s like six guys, I think, that have an OPS over 800. Yeah, let’s take a look right here. Uh, so, um, just shy is Julio Rodriguez, but you got Cal Raleigh. Let’s say Julio because he’s right there. You got Palanco, you got Naylor, you got Suarez, you got Kzone, and uh, and Randy Rose Arena, even though he’s not up there, like pretty good nonetheless. So, it it’s just such a tough lineup to get through. And on top of all of that, I mean, they’re pitching. We haven’t even really seen the best of their pitchers yet in this series. They’re going to be now two games up and it’s going to be George Kirby that’s going to start for them in Louis Castillo. And you got to imagine at some point they’re going to be whipping out Brian Woo because he made the roster. So he’s not going to just be sitting on the bench forever. That was their ace this year, which is crazy cuz they just got a multitude of aces. Like let’s not even, you know, we’re not even talking about Logan Gilbert. Uh Logan Gilbert was bad last night. He was their worst pitcher in the series. Yeah. keeping in mind he did throw two innings on that 15 inning game but still yeah he actually like there was a moment where Toronto was thinking oh we might get back in this game then they took Logan Gilbert out and the Toronto offense just got absolutely ice cold and that’s a credit to this bullpen this bullpen has been just wowing me with their capabilities uh to endure all of everything that they’ve had to deal with right the whole narrative was that this team was supposed to be fatigued and supposed to be tired and that they weren’t capable of uh you know pitching all these pitches. Meanwhile, you know, you’re getting guys out here all the time throwing 30 plus pitches. Bizardo came out and threw 30 yesterday, 36 from Vargas, and then 39 from Hancock. And the Toronto Blue Jays just do not get that. And this Blue Jays lineup that was walking in so hot has gone ice cold against that bullpen against those starters. Yeah, like I’m I’m going to take a look right now what they’ve done against the bullpen. Collectively, this is crazy actually. Collectively, that bullpen’s thrown nine innings so far. So, they’ve thrown half of the 18 innings that they’ve played. They’ve given up a collective one hit. One hit in nine innings. Are you kidding me? And when you look over at the Blue Jays lineup, the guys who are getting the hits, there aren’t many. It’s been Nathan Lucas. Not a not a lot of hits to go around plural here. No, no. Like Nathan Lucas is the only guy who got the hit off the bullpen. He had a great game. And from a Blue Jay perspective, like if you don’t know Nathan Lucas, I mean, he’s a dog. Like he he doesn’t care who’s on the bump. He’s going to get hits off you. But everybody else, George Springer, he has two hits. One was a homer, one’s a double. So George having a decent series so far. But you need more. you need more contributions and they’re just not getting that. Only three other guys have one hit. Ernie Clement, you know, down in the bottom part of the lineup. Kirk who’s in the middle part of that lineup needs to drive in runs. Sandere played one game and they got a back tightness and was out. Everybody else, I’m looking at the stars right here. I’m looking at Barger who’s a four-hole hitter. Probably needs to switch things up if I’m John Schneider because he’s not doing anything. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. who said the Yankees lose. And rightfully so, he deserved it because he was nine for 17 in that series with three home runs. He doesn’t have a single hit in the series. The Blue Jays aren’t going to win this series if they’re not if they’re not going to they don’t win this series if they’re going to play like this. Well, and and also as well, Dalton Vo walked in as one of the hottest hitters for the Jays. He has actually done nothing. Yeah. He’s done. He has not walked or got a hit. He has not gotten on base one singular time. He struck out twice. Yeah. It’s been It’s just dead. Right. And like there’s you and that’s all throughout the uh the middle part of the lineup cuz typically how Toronto runs this out is Springer one, Lucas 2, and those are the two guys who have, you know, actually contributed now and then the rest of everyone after that it’s just game over. Yeah. So, you know, they’ve had a couple times where runners have been on and no one is capable of cashing them in because Vlatty onwards, it’s just it’s it’s nothing right now. So, credit to the Seattle Mariners for shutting down what was the hottest offense in uh in the playoffs so far. An offense, by the way, that absolutely embarrassed the New York Yankees and their good pitching. And they do have good pitching. And then all of a sudden, Bryce Miller and Hancock and Bazardo and and these guys over there in Seattle, they can’t do anything against them. Yeah. And look, the Blue Jays formula is always going to be this way this season. If they don’t have hitting, they’re not going to win. Because walking into this postseason, they had the worst pitching staff. So, like when I’m walking in the series, I expect the Mariners to put up runs. Did I expect them to put up 13 in two games? Probably not. That feel like a lot. But if that happened, I I wouldn’t be surprised just based on how good they were. But I did expect the Blue Jays to give up a give a little bit more of a fight than four runs in two games. But now they go over to Seattle starting tomorrow. They’ll begin a little mini threeame series in there. Effectively, the Mariners, if you want to win, just win the series. Win the series at home. You go to the World Series for the first time ever in your franchise. That’d be a huge moment for them. Let me ask you, do you think they’re going to get it done? No Blue Jay bias involved. What do you think? Well, right now after the first two games, it’s hard to Yeah, it’s hard to think anything otherwise. I think that Seattle is going to be extremely motivated to finish this in Seattle. Sure. because then you get to party and hang out at home. And then it’s a massive break, right? Like that’s a massive time off. There’s already going to be like close to a week of a window even if you go to game seven in the CS uh you know to the World Series, you’ll still get a significant amount of time. But if they were to never have to get on that flight back to Toronto, that’s I mean clearly that is ultimately the the goal right now. If you’re the Seattle Mariners, finish this off at home. Party at home. Celebrate with your fans. Get as hammered as you want because you got a week and a half to relax and then let the Dodgers and the Milwaukee Brewers fight it out. I’m looking at things right now and as much as And the bias is creeping in, but taking the bias out, how do I not say that Seattle handles it at home? Yeah. Like I’m looking at pitching matchups right now. Shane Bieber and you got Kirby game three. I’ll say I think the Blue Jays are going to win that one, but then you got Max Sherzer versus Louis Castillo. That’s easily the Mariners. Then probably Brian Woo up against Gosman at home. Momentum. I think Seattle Mariners win this one in five is what it looks like right now. That is what it’s shaping up to be folks. But let us know your thoughts about all this in the comments down below. If you haven’t already done so, please hit that like, smash that subscribe button. We will catch you next time. Cheers. [Music]

The Seattle Mariners are unbelievably good and the MLB does not have any answers for them.

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28 comments

  1. Mariners fan and first time viewer here – thanks for this episode. It’s frustrating for us M’s fans because the national broadcasters have a sheer lack of knowledge about both teams in the LCS but the disrespect towards the Mariners is palpable when seeing it on the TV. Weird how baseball YouTube is covering the series and teams better than the big boys on Fox

  2. Miller has been hurt for much of this year. In 2023 and 2024 he was very good; probably one of the top 3 pitchers then. He showed in game one of the ALCS the kind of pitcher he really is.

  3. Mariners fan here- don’t sleep on Bryce Miller- he was last year’s Bryan Woo. He dealt with injury a lot of this season and he looks like he may finally be right.

  4. 14:05 If I’m the Seattle Mariners I’m almost concerned over taking too long of a break between the ALCS and the WS…. This isn’t football. When you’re in the MLB Playoffs, you don’t want a break. You want to keep your body moving and in a rhythm.

    This is how I’ve always felt about baseball, and even David Ortiz, Alex Rodriguez, and Derek Jeter acknowledged that in their commentaries.

  6. So as a 48 year fan of the Mariners and I am 55 years old. Okay background: We moved from Vancouver Washington to the suburbs north of Seattle in 1977, when I was 7 years old. My dad said to me. Guess what. They're almost finished building a big sports arena called the King Dome. We're getting a football team and a baseball team. We can go see them whenever we want. I remember going into the tunnel for the first time as a little kid. That was year one. The Mariners sucked, but we had a team and we all knew it took time to get better. Now fast forward to the end of game 2 in the ALCS yesterday. We beat Toronto like we were destined to. For the first time in 48 years, including 1995, I had the thought, Jesus Christ, I think the Mariners are the best team. Not just underdog favorites or on a fairy dust, magic ride. We're really really good. Better than the rest in every aspect. Our hitting is great, it's powerful, it's deep, it's clutch, and it's resilient. Our pitching is great, it's stacked, it's deep, and it's scary. We're not a bunch of old guys and not a bunch of rookies. We're in the Goldilocks middle. We've got leaders and young energy both. Also, one thing I've noticed is that most of the nation is rooting for the Mariners this time around. We've never even been to the world series and this is only our second Pennant appearance in our entire existence as a team. But we've got the Mojo baby!

  8. Well done, gentlemen. It’s obvious you have genuine passion for the game. And your enthusiastic appreciation for all things great about it? Even when it’s the enemy? Pure class. Should have been an hour…

  9. As a life long Oakland fan (68-24) who was born in Seattle, I'm hoping for a Mariners vs. Pilots World Series. The Pilots were the first team Bud Selig stole from me the A's where the second.

  12. Luis Castillo better have his dominant stuff. He used to be an ace, now a #4.
    If we get the W in game 3 and 4, Woo can rest and get the game 1 WS vs LAD

  16. Best Mariners team ever was

    Chone Figgins
    Dustin Ackley
    Mike Carp
    Justin Smoke
    Brenden Ryan
    Mike Morse
    Franklin Gutierrez
    Jesus Montero
    Kyle Seager

  17. T mobile in October is impossible to hit in. Good luck, Toronto. The hits have to be on the ground or lucky bloopers. Anything off the ground past the infield hangs up. And even Seattle can't hit home runs before May 30th and after September 15th. The air is just too heavy. The team with one homer usually wins the game. Even the grounders hang up in the humidity. And Seattle's pitching is just way better than yours.

  20. Great rundown, guys, think you covered the points that needed mentioning. For me this season all began with finding out the M’s had brought back veteran catcher Dan Wilson as manager, and the great Edgar Martinez as head hitting coach. Which was exactly what I wanted. Based on how well they did to wrap up last season’s mostly subpar stretch. So knowing that, I had some high but cautious hopes. Now look at us. I know we can do this. We’re on fire. We can get it done. So what I want to see is not only our players get credit for strong games, but the management and coaching staff get their very deserved due.

  21. Cal hit a Big Dumper Thumper, doggone dinger, a Homeric Hoist, a yard jack way back, a fulsome four-bagger, a raucous round-tripper, a bombastic blast, a bodacious bomb, a Big Momba moon shot, a toasted tater. He parked that puppy, mashed that meatball, a no doubt clout, a no joke poke, a bell ringer stinger, a King Kong Ding Dong and a tape measure for the fans' pleasure.

  24. M's fan here, you guys are so much more impartial than the fox broadcast. I think y'all talked about Naylor's injury more than the fox crew, they were more concerned about carving a turkey to even mention it.

  25. The MLB answer to the M's are most likely the Dodgers. They are scary good. The AL has been anyone's league all season. It's just an inconsistent weird group of teams. Loving this run for the M's right now, but dreading the idea of facing the billion dollar Dodgers in the W.S.

  28. You guys are solid. This is why baseball is the best ball, the fanbase transcends team allegiance. My dad always said “We are baseball fans first”. I enjoyed attending both games against Skubal, and even as a life long M’s fan, part of the enjoyment absolutely came from watching that guy on the mound, what an athlete.

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