There’s still plenty of baseball to be played, but the Seattle Mariners are on the precipice of reaching a level they’ve never touched before.
The Mariners won their second straight game against the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the American League Championship Series as it shifts back to Seattle for Games 3 and 4 and a potential Game 5.
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With just two more wins, the M’s will reach the World Series for the first time in their 49-season history.
Co-host of “Foul Territory” Scott Braun joined Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy on Tuesday to discuss what he’s seen thus far from Seattle in its ALCS series against the Toronto Blue Jays.
One thing in particular stands out to Braun.
“The relievers are what stand out,” Braun said. “(Matt) Brash and (Andrés) Muñoz have been known commodities for several years, even though Brash was coming back from injury. I think there are some others that are starting to make a serious name for themselves to provide the depth that the Mariners’ bullpen has right now.”
After pursuing some big-name, high-leverage arms and coming away with only lefty Caleb Ferguson before the trade deadline, Seattle’s bullpen looked like a potential weak point moving forward. Outside of Brash and Muñoz, the M’s didn’t have any arms with a track record of success that extended beyond one season.
But Eduard Bazardo and Gabe Speier continued their breakout years to help solidify the backend of the bullpen, and the unit has come up big in the postseason, especially in the first two games of the ALCS.
Mariners relievers combined for nine shutout innings of one-hit ball in their first two games against the Blue Jays. And outside of their AL Division Series Game 4 loss in which Bazardo and Speier had rough outings, Seattle’s bullpen has held its playoff opponents to just seven runs and 12 hits over 33 1/3 innings.
Braun sees that sort of performance as a stark contrast from what the Blue Jays are getting from their bullpen.
“I think that there are plenty of names involved on the Seattle side that most people don’t know about in the bullpen that they’re now being very, very aware of,” Braun said. “And that’s what’s to me the advantage right now, is Toronto’s bullpen coming into the postseason was just OK. There’s really nobody that you feel is lights out.”
While Seattle’s bullpen has dominated the first two games of the series, the Blue Jays’ unit has surrendered six runs and 10 hits over 8 1/3 innings, which includes giving up the go-ahead hits in each game. Toronto’s bullpen also had some struggles in its ALDS series, surrendering a combined 13 runs to the New York Yankees in Games 2 and 3. In total, the group has allowed 21 of the 32 runs given up by Toronto in the postseason.
“I think (the Mariners) have a very clear-cut advantage in that category and it’s going to cause a huge problem for the Blue Jays’ side,” Braun said. “Because now you’re getting into territory where (the Blue Jays are) going to have Shane Bieber, who is coming off a big injury and looks OK so far since he’s been back, (starting Game 3) and then maybe Max Scherzer in Game 4.”
Hear the full conversation at this link or in the audio player in this story. Listen to Bump and Stacy weekdays from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.
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