The Seattle Mariners are on the precipice of their first trip to the American League Championship Series in 24 years.
The Mariners are just one win away advancing through their best-of-five AL Division Series with the Detroit Tigers, and they have a chance to end the series with a victory Wednesday afternoon in Game 4.
Back half of Seattle Mariners’ lineup now making its mark in playoffs
Former MLB pitcher and 2006 World Series winner Adam Wainwright has been on the call for the Mariners-Tigers matchups for FOX Sports. Wainwright, who pitched in 18 seasons, shared his insight from calling the series when he joined Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk for a conversation Wednesday.
A more dynamic offense
Co-host Mike Salk mentioned to Wainwright that he felt the series with Detroit has shown a wide talent gap that the Mariners are on the right side of. The three-time All-Star wasn’t ready to go that far, but he feels Seattle’s offense is clearly more dangerous.
“I don’t know if I would call it a level of talent … I would say that the offense for Seattle is much more dynamic than the one from Detroit,” Wainwright said. “That’s just a plain, hard fact.”
For Wainwright, it’s the trade deadline additions of Eugenio Suárez and Josh Naylor that puts the Mariners’ offense over the top.
“What they did at the trade deadline, you add what, 62 home runs to the middle of the order. I mean, that’s just one of the most staggering offensively added bundles that I’ve ever seen to the middle of an order,” Wainwright said. “Geno and Josh, I mean, those guys are just not only great hitters in the middle of the lineup, but they’re also great guys in the clubhouse.”
On top of of the production Suárez and Naylor infused to the lineup, the M’s are also much more dangerous on the basepaths. They finished third in the big leagues with 161 stolen bases in the regular season. Detroit was last with 61.
Fan base showing out – and for good reason
Wainwright has plenty of experience pitching in playoff atmospheres. He pitched in nine postseason and two World Series during his decorated career with the St. Louis Cardinals. Yet the atmosphere for Games 1 and 2 in Seattle still stood out.
“The fan base in Seattle the other day was just lights out for two straight games. That was amazing. Amazing, amazing, amazing,” Wainwright said. “And I rode on a plane over here (to Detroit) … every seat on the plane had a Mariners shirt on it – a T-shirt for everybody on the plane – and a poster. I mean, they’re fired up over there, aren’t they?”
And Wainwright believes there’s good reason for the fan base to excited about this playoff run.
“You should be because they got a team there that could roll right through this thing,” Wainwright said. “They really could, they could win this. The way they pitch and finally going out and adding some offense – you’ve got a dangerous lineup. I mean, I think for years we looked at the Mariners going, ‘These guys pitch really well, but they can’t hit.’ And now I think you look at that team and you go, ‘I don’t really know an area where they’re not pretty good.’”
Wainwright’s AL MVP pick
Wainwright also weighed in on the AL MVP discussion between Cal Raleigh and Yankees slugger Aaron Judge.
He thinks the answer is pretty clear: it’s the Big Dumper.
“What Cal brings to his team, it’s not just 60 home runs and 125 RBIs, which is very impressive,” Wainwright said. “As a catcher, that’s just unheard of. But he was also last year a Platinum Glove winner and this year is probably going to be a Gold Glove winner at least again. The way he manages his staff – you saw him go out there yesterday and just completely calm his pitcher down several times – blocking every ball, he’s so quiet back there.
“(FOX co-commentator and former MLB catcher) A.J. (Pierzynski) just gushes over this guy defensively, but he’s a total package. When you have somebody like that that’s a total package defensively and offensively, it just settles everybody else down. Cal Raleigh, every time you needed something this year, he came through.”
Hear the full conversation at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Listen to Brock and Salk weekdays from 6-10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.
More Seattle Mariners postseason coverage
• Jon Morosi: Three takeaways after Seattle Mariners’ Game 3 ALDS win
• Game 4 Lineups: How Mariners and Tigers are matching up
• ‘Vintage’ Logan Gilbert dazzles in Seattle Mariners’ Game 3 win
• ‘Dump Here’: Big Dumper fan catches Cal Raleigh HR ball
• Passan: Julio, Cal meeting the moment for Seattle Mariners in ALDS
