SEATTLE — If the Seattle Mariners — up 2-0 in the American League Championship Series after wins in Toronto — need a dose of perspective, they can turn to backup catcher Mitch Garver.
Garver knows the seven-game series, which switches to Seattle for Game 3 on Wednesday, isn’t over.
In 2023, Garver was a member of the Texas Rangers when they won the first two games of the ALCS at Houston.
“The mood shift was crazy,” Garver told The Seattle Times. “We were flying home thinking we had the series locked up, and by no means was that true.”
The Rangers lost all three home games before rallying for victories in Games 6 and 7 back in Houston.
“I think that the biggest key is, like, never let the foot off the gas and continue to do the small things. … You can’t just take a pitch off, especially when you’re up two,” Garver said. “You have to continue to do the little things right and execute and try to scratch one (run) off every inning.”
The Mariners needed Jorge Polanco’s 15th-inning single to defeat visiting Detroit 3-2 in the deciding Game 5 of their AL Division Series last Friday.
Despite having to make the trip to Toronto and open the ALCS on Sunday, they came away with a 3-1 opening victory as Cal Raleigh homered and Polanco hit a pair of run-scoring singles.
Julio Rodriguez, Polanco and Josh Naylor homered on Monday as the Mariners won 10-3 to return home with a series lead.
“We know we have work to do,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “These series take on a life of its own. We’ve got to stay focused on where we’re headed, and we know our fans will help us get there.”
The Blue Jays, who scored 34 runs in defeating the New York Yankees in four games in the ALDS, managed just four in the first two games of this series.
“Always going to have optimism about this team,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “I think just looking at it as a whole, we’ve got to figure out ways to generate some more offense. … They just made more swings than us the last two games is kind of what it comes down to.”
Right-hander Shane Bieber (4-2, 3.57 ERA in the regular season), the 2020 AL Cy Young Award winner, is scheduled to start Wednesday for Toronto against Seattle righty George Kirby (10-8, 4.21).
Bieber, who missed nearly all of the 2024 season following Tommy John surgery, made seven regular-season starts this year for the Blue Jays after being acquired from Cleveland at the trade deadline and another against the Yankees in the ALDS. He got a no-decision in Game 3 after allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits over 2 2/3 innings of an eventual 9-6 defeat. Bieber is 2-2 with a 2.30 ERA in 43 innings over seven career starts against Seattle.
Kirby started Games 1 and 5 of the ALDS against the Tigers without a decision despite allowing just three runs on nine hits over 10 innings, with one walk and 14 strikeouts. He’s 0-1 with a 6.28 ERA in 14 1/3 innings over three previous starts versus the Blue Jays.
The Blue Jays are in a precarious position, needing to win two of three in Seattle just send the series back to Toronto.
“Obviously, it feels a little bit more like your backs are against the wall with there being kind of like a finish line in sight,” Blue Jays reliever Jeff Hoffman said. “But like I said, we don’t look ahead. We don’t look behind. We stay right here where we’re at.
“We understand what the task is and what the challenge is in front of us,” he continued. “It just is what it is. It’s black and white. You got to go out, you got to play good baseball, you got to play clean baseball, you can’t beat yourself. And the other team is here for a reason, too. It’s one of the best four teams left.
“It’s not going to be a cake walk, it never was going to be a cake walk and we got to go out and play good baseball.”
–Gene Warnick, Field Level Media
