The regular season for major league baseball is in the rear-view mirror and we start the postseason in earnest with a pair of American League teams meeting north of the border. It’s the Seattle Mariners on the road as they travel to face the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 1 of their best-of-three American League Wild Card Series Friday afternoon. Seattle finished the regular season taking three of four from the Tigers, including a 5-4 triumph at home in the regular season finale Wednesday afternoon. Toronto split a doubleheader on the road with the Orioles Wednesday on the road, losing the opener 5-4 before prevailing in the nightcap 5-1. In the season series this year, the Mariners owned a 5-2 advantage, including a four-game sweep at home in the most recent series July 7-10.
Seattle won three of four from Detroit at home to close the season and have reached the playoffs for the first time since 2001, snapping the longest drought in major league baseball. The Mariners finished the regular season second in the AL West with a 90-72 record, 16 games behind the Astros for the division lead. On Wednesday against the Tigers, Seattle got two hits each from Abraham Toro, Luis Torrens (run, two RBI) and Mitch Haniger (two runs, RBI) in the victory. Haniger (his 11th), Julio Rodriguez (his 28th) and Torrens (his third) each went deep in the victory. Marco Gonzales didn’t factor in the decision as he threw seven innings, allowing four runs (three earned) on two walks and five strikeouts. Erik Swanson (3-2) earned the win with a 1-2-3 ninth as he struck out two while the Mariners scored in the bottom of the ninth to win in walk-off fashion.
Luis Castillo gets the ball in the opener of the postseason after making 25 regular season starts: 14 with the Reds and 11 with the Mariners. He comes in 8-6 with a 2.99 ERA, a 1.084 WHIP, 45 walks and 167 strikeouts over 150.1 innings of work this season. Castillo earned the win in his last start, which came last Friday against the A’s at home. He threw six innings, allowing one run on two hits with one walk and eight strikeouts in a 5-1 Seattle victory. In his last three starts, Castillo is 1-1 with a 5.63 ERA, a 1.31 WHIP, six walks and 17 strikeouts over 16 innings of work. Castillo took the loss in his lone career start against the Blue Jays, which came with the Reds on May 20. He threw six innings, allowing two runs on seven hits with no walks and five strikeouts in a 2-1 Cincinnati loss. That outing came at Rogers Centre, giving him a passing familiarity with the ballpark.