Woo (pec) throws simulated inning, but ALDS status uncertain

SEATTLE -- Bryan Woo stood in full uniform on Thursday afternoon as he paced through the outfield grass in an empty T-Mobile Park. That he was in Seattle’s home whites, jersey crisply tucked in and complete with the neon cleats illustrated just how game-like he intended to make the throwing session.

Yet, while Woo called it “a positive day” -- which featured roughly 25 warmup pitches in the bullpen, followed by a 15-pitch simulated game against live, non-swinging hitters -- he stopped short when directly asked whether he was optimistic about being included on the Mariners’ 26-man roster for the American League Division Series.

“I'm not going to put any assumptions out yet,” said Woo, who’s been nursing inflammation in his pectoral muscle. “I'm just kind of, like I said, just trying to take it day by day.”

The Mariners do not have to submit their roster until the morning of Game 1 on Saturday, and they now know their opponent, as the Tigers advanced past the Guardians on Thursday.

“I’m still not where I want to be in terms of game speed of everything,” Woo said. “But in terms of how everything has progressed, I’m happy with it. Considering that a week ago, I wasn’t even throwing yet -- and then a week from now, hopefully we’ll be in a better spot.”

By that timeline, one week from Friday would be Game 5 in the best-of-five round. Given that teams typically don’t carry five full starters for these shorter playoff series, Woo could be an exception. The 2025 All-Star has been their best starter all season, and there’s also the consideration of how depleted the Mariners’ bullpen would be should this series go the full distance and reach that point.

Logic would suggest that they’d want Woo as an option deep in the series over any alternate reliever they might consider carrying.

“In terms of my job, it's just control what I can control every day,” Woo said. “I'll do my stuff from when I get to the field early and get everything done before the game starts. And then, I have all the faith in the world with all of our pitchers -- starters, relievers, whoever it is -- that they're more than capable of doing the job like they have been all year. And especially come playoff time, everybody just seems to take a little bit of the next step up.”

Seattle hasn’t announced its ALDS starters but the club is expected to reveal at least the Game 1 assignment on Friday, when both the Mariners and Tigers will host a formal workout at T-Mobile Park. Logan Gilbert, George Kirby and Luis Castillo are the leading candidates for the first two games, but given Woo’s status and some pronounced home/road splits, it’s still wildly unclear which way they’re leaning.

“It won't be necessarily geared toward who's your No. 1 starter,” Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto said on Sunday. “But who do we feel is most rested, best-positioned and where does Bryan slot in?”

Bryce Miller could also be in play to start at some point in the series if Woo is unavailable, though he’s also been preparing to pitch out of the bullpen early in the series.

“Just to be ready early,” Miller said of his correspondence with the coaching staff. “If we get deeper into the series, be prepared to start. But we’ve got to win Game 1 and win Game 2, and then go from there.”

Woo hasn’t pitched since exiting a Sept. 19 start in Houston, the latest outing in which he was dominant. For the season, he is 15-7 with a 2.94 ERA (128 ERA+) over 186 2/3 innings, numbers that will likely earn him down-ballot votes for the AL Cy Young Award.

“With an injury like that, it doesn't just disappear,” Woo said. “Like, there's still managing, still doing treatment and stuff every day to kind of flush that stuff out, and then still working on building the workload. There's a bunch of different fronts to it. But yeah, I'd say everything has been progressing, and that's all I can really ask for.”

That said, Woo said his situation is now more about “building up correctly” and not as much about the injury itself.

“You want to be smart about it,” Woo said. “It doesn't do any good to just recklessly come out and throw as hard as I can, just to do it, just to see a number. It's got to be done the right way.”