NEW YORK -- Blue Jays manager John Schneider admits that it's hard to tune out much baseball outside of his own team.
That remains true in the postseason, as the Blue Jays eliminated the Yankees, 5-2, en route to their first American League Championship Series since 2016.
Now, the Blue Jays must await their opponent, as the Mariners and the Tigers are tied, 2-2, as the other ALDS heads back to Seattle.
“I've watched a few,” Schneider said of the other ALDS games. “I'm not catching every pitch every single time, but definitely watching how teams are playing, who's being used where, kind of what some strategy may be, what lineups look like and things like that, but way more focused on the team over there [the Yankees].”
As for who the Jays would rather face, they’re ready for anyone. Toronto has never faced either team in the postseason, though Toronto and Detroit are old AL East rivals.
The Blue Jays have the series advantage against both teams in the regular season, going 4-2 against Seattle and 4-3 against Detroit. Toronto outscored the Mariners 31-24 and the Tigers 35-26.
That being said, the Blue Jays faced the Mariners six times over the first five weeks of the season, including a three-game sweep in Seattle from May 9-11. While the M’s collected a more than formidable 51-45 (.531) record in the first half, it was even better at 39-27 (.591) in the second half after acquiring top bats Eugenio Suárez and Josh Naylor at the Trade Deadline.
The Tigers spent much of 2025 as the team with the best record in the American League, before fumbling the division title in the final weeks of the season.
Reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal would lurk around the corner, but with him lined up to start Game 5 on Friday, the Jays would only face him twice in the event of a seven-game ALCS. The Tigers' rotation isn’t just Skubal, with Casey Mize (3.87 ERA, 107 ERA+) and Jack Flaherty (4.64 ERA, 89 ERA+), but Skubal will likely repeat as the AL Cy Young winner. The Mariners' rotation, however, is deeper.
Detroit's pitching staff is much more manageable as a whole compared to Seattle’s, whose rotation ranked seventh in the AL with a 3.97 ERA and whose bullpen was even better with a 3.72 ERA (6th).
The back end of the Mariners' bullpen is electric with All-Star closer Andrés Muñoz (1.73 ERA), Matt Brash (2.47 ERA), Eduard Bazardo (2.52 ERA) and Gabe Speier (2.61 ERA).
But the Mariners could still be without 2025 All-Star Bryan Woo, who has been the club’s best starter all year long.
The right-hander is not on Seattle’s ALDS roster as he’s dealt with a pec injury that ended his season prematurely. He last pitched on Sept. 19 in Houston, and he finished the year with a 2.94 ERA (128 ERA+) over 186 2/3 innings. He threw a sim game on Oct. 2, and manager Dan Wilson said the hope is that he would be ready for the ALCS should the Mariners advance.
The Mariners posted a 113 wRC+ in the regular season, good for second in the AL and smushed between the Yankees (119) and Blue Jays themselves (112). The Tigers, on the other hand, had a 103 wRC+, the second worst of all the AL’s postseason teams.
Whoever the Blue Jays have to face, rest assured, it won’t be easy. But the prospect of facing a platoon-heavy Tigers lineup without Skubal for Game 1 is likely much more enticing.
“It's nice to take a deep breath,” Schneider said. “It's really nice to sort through what we think is the best way to try to beat whoever we're going to play. It allows some guys to hopefully get a little bit more healthy. It allows some guys to get a little bit of rest after what was a very emotional, hard-fought four games against the Yankees. We'll enjoy tonight, and we'll start figuring out the next series when we wake up.”