Can the Blue Jays avoid being further exposed by Mariners?

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Max Scherzer confident in team’s ability to ‘bounce back’

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Published Oct 14, 2025 • 4 minute read

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Blue Jays manager John Schneider speaks during a media availability the day before Game 3 of the American League Championship Series against the Seattle Mariners Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025, in Seattle. Photo by Lindsey Wasson /THE ASSOCIATED PRESSArticle content

There is bold and brave talk and there is wishful thinking.

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And after a humbling start through two misereable games of the ALCS, we’re about to find out where this Blue Jays team lands on that scale.

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It would be a mistake to say that if the Jays fall to the Mariners in the best-of-seven series that their season is a complete disaster and disappointment. You don’t go from last-to-first in the division without some significant positives happening along the way.

But it certainly would be a thud of an ending if the series doesn’t return to Toronto for at least a Game 6. Through the first two games, played over the holiday weekend in Toronto, the Jays’ flaws have been meticulously exposed by a confident Mariners team, a group that so far anyway is a significantly stouter opponent that the Yankees team they dispatched in the ALDS.

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The common refrain we encountered from players we spoke with in the Jays clubhouse on Monday night was a version of the team’s 2025 anthem, perhaps best voiced by 41-year-old Max Scherzer.

“We’re really tight, we’re really close,” said the righty said following Monday’s 10-3 shellacking. This is a really good clubhouse. We’ve shown the ability to bounce back plenty of times during the season and we’re going to need to do it again.”

But can they?

That exposure was profound, at times, in two games that the Jays were never a threat to win at a stadium they had been dominant through most of the regular season.

And now they have to somehow take two of three in Seattle just to get back to Toronto with a shot. Nothing is going to get any easier, either, considering Wednesday’s Game 3 starter is Shane Bieber, who was throttled by the Yankees in his lone ALDS appearance.

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After that, it’s on to Scherzer, who the Jays were so inspired with his recent work that he was left off the ALDS roster altogether.

Scherzer’s primary rallying cry, though, was based on a career where he has seen the highs and lows of what works in the big leagues. And to be fair, one of the Jays great strengths this season has been its resiliency and ability to flush out the crappy games and turn things around in a hurry.

“We showed the last four months of the season we can play great baseball with any team in the league,” Scherzer said on Monday. “Not taking anything away from them, but we’re a great team here.

“It’s just baseball. Baseball can do funny things. But it’s not gonna flip just because it’s gonna flip. It’s gonna flip because we play great ball.”

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It will take more than that, of course. And it starts Wednesday night at T-Mobile Park.

NO BULL

For so much of the season, the Blue Jays bullpen has been an issue for the Blue Jays and clearly an area of vulnerability opponents are looking for ways to exploit. The Mariners were certainly ready and waiting for the exits of Game 1 starter Kevin Gausman (too early) and Trey Yesavage (timely) in Game 2. And in both cases, the games turned in a hurry upon their exit.

“I’m going to continue to trust them, for one,” Schneider said following Monday’s game. “And I’m going to continue to trust everyone that either starts the game or comes in.”

Of course Schneider is going to stand by his dudes, but what option does he have? The fact is, the team has never had a consistent, reliable sequence of arms to go to once the starter departs. Can a team have playoff success without such a strength? Sure, but it takes plenty to go right when the bullpen is an consistently unreliable weakness.

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“Sometimes bullpens can be volatile,” the manager acknowledged later on the subject of a group that has become unreliable and unpredictable of late. “There’s certain situations where you’re chasing matchups, you’re chasing velo, you’re chasing stuff for certain guys.”

SECRET WEAPON?

Who will feel the freshest when Game 3 gets under way? Even though the Jays are, in theory, the more rested team, the long journey is old hat for the Mariners.

In fact, there isn’t a team in the majors that logs more miles and time in the air than the AL West champs.

“Being out on the West Coast, you travel a lot,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said following Monday’s win. “It’s just part of the deal. Maybe they’re a little bit used to those longer flight and having to deal with some of the delays and whatever happens.”

And then Wilson relayed a refrain often played by Jays manager Schneider.

“I can’t speak enough about how resilient they are, how hard they fight. It’s been a a big part of what we’ve been able to do all season long.”

Can the Blue Jays avoid being further exposed by Mariners?

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