Who's hot, who's not for Seattle Mariners entering ALCS

The Seattle Mariners are on the precipice of a franchise first.

Just four more wins and they’ll reach their first World Series in team history, ridding themselves of being the answer to the trivia question, “Who’s the only MLB team to never play in the Fall Classic?”

Seattle Mariners ALCS Schedule: Game 1 time and more

Standing in their way is the team that finished with the best record in the American League, the AL East champion Toronto Blue Jays, who knocked off the New York Yankees in four games in their AL Division Series matchup.

The Mariners and Blue Jays kick off their AL Championship Series on Sunday in Toronto. Here’s a look at who’s hot and who’s not for the Mariners heading into the showdown.

Who’s hot

Cal Raleigh: Raleigh led the M’s in hits (eight), RBIs (four) and walks (four) while also posting team bests in average (.381), on-base percentage (.480), slugging (.571) and OPS (1.051) in the ALDS against Detroit. The “Big Dumper” had a hit in all five games and reached base at least twice in four. He homered in Seattle’s Game 3 win.

Jorge Polanco: Polanco isn’t hot in the sense that he raked throughout the ALDS, but he’s hot in the sense that he came through in big moments. The switch-hitting second baseman homered twice off AL Cy Young award favorite Tarik Skubal in Seattle’s Game 2 win, and he delivered the walkoff hit in the 15th inning of the Mariners’ epic Game 5 win. He also scored the tying run in the seventh of the series finale.

Logan Gilbert: Gilbert turned in six strong innings of one-run ball to help lead the Mariners to their Game 3 victory. He also tossed two scoreless frames of relief in extra innings during Seattle’s series-clinching win on just two days’ rest. The right-hander had nine strikeouts over his eight innings of work.

Andrés Muñoz: Muñoz pitched four times, including all three of the Mariners’ wins, while delivering 5 1/3 scoreless innings out of the bullpen against Detroit. He didn’t allow a baserunner over four innings in his first three outings, and he recorded more than three outs twice.

Luis Castillo: Castillo gave Seattle 4 2/3 shutout innings while allowing only one hit and working around four walks in its Game 2 victory. The veteran right-hander then closed out the Mariners’ Game 5 win with 1 1/3 scoreless innings three days after his start.

George Kirby: Kirby kept the Mariners in their Game 1 loss with five innings of two-run ball and was a pitch away from five shutout innings. He gave Seattle five more strong innings, allowing only one run, in the series finale. Kirby’s 14 strikeouts and 10 innings pitched led M’s pitchers in the ALDS.

Eduard Bazardo: Outside of a rough outing in which he gave up three runs in an inning during Game 4, Bazardo was stellar for the M’s in the ALDS. He pitched in all five games, including escaping inherited two-on, no-out jam on his way to 2 2/3 crucial innings of scoreless relief in Game 5.

Who’s not

Eugenio Suárez: Outside of his Game 3 home run, it was a rough ALDS for Seattle’s third baseman. Suárez went just 2 for 21 and struck out nine times in 22 plate appearances.

Randy Arozarena: It was a fairly quiet series for Arozarena, who finished 4 for 23 and reached base just five times in 26 plate appearances. However, he was hitting the ball hard. Through the first four games of the ALDS, he put a team-high eight balls in play with a 95-plus mph exit velocity and a team-high six balls in play with a 100-plus mph exit velocity, according to Baseball Savant.

Gabe Speier: The left-hander gave Seattle consecutive scoreless four-out appearances out of the bullpen to start the series, but he allowed an inherited runner to score plus two more runs at the start of Detroit’s rally in Game 4, and he surrendered a two-run homer that put the Tigers ahead 2-1 in Game 5.

Caleb Ferguson: Ferguson gave the Tigers life in Game 3. After coming in with an 8-1 lead, he surrendered three runs with out recording an out, and Muñoz was forced to come into the game to close it out.

Carlos Vargas: Vargas allowed three total runs over two innings while giving up at least one in each ALDS outing. He’s allowed at least one run in five of his past six appearances, dating back to the regular season.

Who’s hot, who’s not for Seattle Mariners entering ALCS

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