HOUSTON -- In the American League Wild Card Series, the Mariners looked right at home in front of 48,000 passionate fans as they pulled off one of the biggest comebacks in postseason history to stun the Blue Jays in their own building.
Now, Seattle’s postseason path gets far more challenging -- and familiar -- with Houston waiting in the AL Division Series, and another home crowd to silence.
The AL West title went to the 106-win Astros, who have won the division in five of the past six seasons. They’ve beaten up on the Mariners this season, especially at Minute Maid Park, which makes Seattle’s start in Game 1 today absolutely crucial against AL Cy Young Award favorite Justin Verlander.
The Mariners dropped the season series (12-7) to the Astros, but the games in Houston tended to be more lopsided. Seattle went 3-7 at Minute Maid Park and scored just 26 runs over those 10 games, but manager Scott Servais isn’t drawing a straight line from there to here, saying his club now has a more “focused identity.”
“Be careful reading too much into that at this time of year,” Servais said. “The Astros, I'm sure, can attest to that. You play teams when they're hotter, colder, injured, healthy, everything is different at this time of year because if you can walk, you're going to be out there playing.
“This is the playoffs. This is what these guys are driven towards. So, you get everybody's best effort at this time of year.”
The moment the anthems end prior to Game 1 of the ALDS, though, none of these numbers matter. It’s a clean slate for the Mariners, and while the past few seasons have done little to inspire confidence within Houston’s city limits, this group is making a habit of flipping scripts in their first postseason appearance since 2001.
Seattle’s quick start set the tone in the AL Wild Card Series against Toronto, so there’s a blueprint here. Cal Raleigh launched a two-run home run off Alek Manoah in the first inning, an early jab that immediately changed the complexion of the game and set the Mariners up to lean on one of their advantages in the series, their bullpen.
It turns out they barely needed it, though, as starter Luis Castillo delivered one of the most dominant outings of his career.
Verlander and the 2022 Mariners are all too familiar, with six meetings this season. Verlander is 5-1 with a 2.34 ERA over 42 1/3 innings, holding Seattle’s lineup to a .210 average and .599 OPS. In five of those outings, Verlander did as he pleased. In the other, back on May 27, Seattle tagged him for six runs on 10 hits over six innings, including four home runs.
“Everything makes him tough,” said Wild Card hero Adam Frazier. “He's a Hall of Fame pitcher. He's been doing it for 20 years or so. He knows how to pitch. He's got good stuff. He's kind of like Castillo, he throws upper 90s and he can move the ball around the zone wherever he wants, and then -- he's a pitcher. So, you just got to try to hit the mistakes. Foul off the tough ones and hit the mistakes.”
Mariners hitters need to find a way to show something new to a pitcher who’s seen it all. Verlander has thrown 187 2/3 innings in the postseason with a 3.40 ERA, essentially a full season of playoff baseball. Like Servais said, though, this Seattle offense isn’t the same one that Verlander faced in each of his previous six starts.
The Mariners have found their power stroke the past couple of months, and the bottom of the order is preaching the idea of “keeping the line moving," as Frazier put it, to fill the bases for the big bats at the top. That’s led by Julio Rodríguez, who continues to grow into superstardom. This will be a different look than they gave Verlander the first six times.
“They're a really good team,” Verlander said on the eve of Game 1. “They present a lot of difficulties. Their pitching staff is really good. Their lineup is really good. They never give in, as you saw in the series against Toronto.
“They grind out at-bats. They don't make it easy. Obviously, they're playing good baseball right now. So having seen them a lot, it's interesting.”
Whether you look at the standings or head-to-head record, there are arrows pointing to the Astros here. It's back to 0-0, though, and the Mariners have their newest opportunity to surprise.