The Seattle Mariners Need To Play Better If The Want To Win The ALCS

The Seattle Mariners will need to pick themselves up off the turf and play better in all facets of the game if they want to beat the Toronto Blue Jays and win the American League pennant. (Photo by Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

Toronto Star via Getty Images

The Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners are getting ready to play Game 7 of the American League Championship series, with a trip to the World Series on the line. The Blue Jays are playing with their hair on fire, and the Mariners are playing a little bit like a dumpster fire.

Game 4

It started innocently enough. Leo Rivas got picked off first base in the third inning of game in which Seattle trailed 3-1, but led the series 2-1. But then, in that same game, Josh Naylor, a heady player, committed the cardinal sin of making the third out of an inning at third base on a run-scoring single that brought his team within 5-2 (simple math tells us that had he not run into the out, the tying run would have been coming to the plate).

Toronto would go on to win this game to even the series at two. Seattle won Game 5, taking a 3-2 series lead back to Canada. Then things got squirrely again.

Game 6, 2nd Inning

In the bottom of the second inning of Game 6, Julio Rodríguez couldn’t field Daulton Varsho’s single, allowing him to get to second base to lead off the inning. Eugenio Suárez then couldn’t field Ernie Clement’s hard grounder (97.4-mph), which meant that there were now two runners on with no outs. Both runners ultimately scored, giving Toronto a 2-0 lead.

Game 6, 3rd Inning

The Mariners had a chance to come right back in the top of the third. J.P. Crawford led off with a walk. After a Dominic Canzone strike out, light-hitting Leo Rivas hit a towering fly ball to right. There were three potential outcomes: (1) a great catch by Varsho; (2) a home run; or (3) the ball bounces off the wall. No matter what, Crawford should have been pretty close to second base while the ball flew through the air, as he could easily get back if (1) occurred. Unfortunately for Seattle fans, Crawford only moved to second when (3) actually happened. Instead of runners on the corners with one out, they were now on just first and second. The end result may have been the same, as Rodríguez walked to load the bases. With a chance to get even (or even cut the lead in half with a sacrifice fly), Cal Raleigh grounded the very next pitch to first, resulting in a 3-6-1 double play, which ended the threat and the inning.

Game 6, 4th Inning

The next inning, now trailing 4-0, the Mariners again load the bases with one out. Maybe electing not to go after the first pitch like Raleigh did an inning before, Crawford elected to take strike one and strike two. He then hit a soft liner to second, resulting in a rally-killing, inning-ending 4-6-3 double play.

Game 6, 5th Inning

One inning later, still down 4-0, Canzone led off with a single. After a strike out, Rodríguez grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to end the frame. According to Elias, this was only the fourth time in post-season history that a team has hit into inning-ending double plays in three straight innings.

Game 6, 7th Inning

In the bottom of the seventh, the Blue Jays had runners on first and second looking to pad their 5-2 lead. Raleigh blocked a pitch in the dirt but then proceeded to throw the ball into left field, allowing Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to score the Blue Jays’ sixth run.

In Total

For the game, the Mariners grounded into three double plays, made three errors, threw a wild pitch, and went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position. By contrast, Toronto didn’t hit into any double plays, made no errors, and were 3-for-11 with runners in scoring position (which includes an incredible diving play by Suárez fielding a 116-mph rocket off the bat of Guerrero to save two runs and end the second inning).

So now it comes down to the two best words in all of sports: Game Seven. The Blue Jays got off the mat after losing the first two games at home. The Mariners got off the mat after losing the next two games at home. The Blue Jays took it to Seattle in Game 6, but the Mariners did themselves no favors, playing lackluster baseball on both sides of the ball, with no real sense of urgency. Well, things are now urgent.

Seattle’s George Kirby, coming off a Game 3 performance in which he allowed eight runs and three homers over four innings, will face off against Toronto’s Shane Bieber, making just his tenth start of the season after recovering from Tommy John surgery. In Game 3 he pitched six innings, giving up just four hits and two earned runs. Both managers will have a full arsenal of pitchers available out of the bullpen, with the American League pennant on the line. But if the Mariners want to win their first pennant and make their first World Series appearance since the team’s founding in 1977, they will need to be better – with their bats, with their gloves, and on the bases – to beat a Blue Jays team that is hot, hungry, and playing at home.