Baseball

The Blue Jays support the relievers who dropped it last night
Charles-Alexis Brisebois
The Blue Jays support the relievers who dropped it last night
Credit: Sportsnet

Being a reliever in baseball is a thankless job. And it's even truer in the playoffs.

For example? A starting pitcher who gives up three runs in the first inning, but makes up for it later, can get a quality start and get the flowers thrown at him. That's what happened to Shohei Ohtani against the Phillies on October 4.

But a reliever is only there for a few minutes. Every mistake is therefore more significant.

We saw it yesterday, in the game between the Blue Jays and the Mariners: Brendon Little and Seranthony Dominguez collapsed in the eighth inning, sinking the Blue Jays. The guys feel bad and that's normal.

The Blue Jays are now facing elimination, and it's partly because of the eighth inning that the club is in such a position.

It's also because the offense didn't give enough (the word “opportunism” wasn't at the heart of last night's game plan)… but mostly because the manager tried to reinvent baseball by bringing out “a reliever the Mariners had seen less of” to face the heart of the opposing lineup.

Everyone knows that Schneider (and his band of little geniuses) made a mistake and that they needed to fight fire with fire by getting the best arms out early in the half. But the club can't afford to be complacent.

That's why the guys in the dressing room are backing the relievers who ruined yesterday's game.

It reminds us of what happened in Philly after the club's elimination against the Dodgers: Orion Kerkering made a crazy mistake and his teammates went to support him.

That's what a club is all about.

Trey Yesavage will pitch tomorrow to save his club's season, and he should face Logan Gilbert. And if it goes seven games, Shane Bieber should face George Kirby.

If need be, Kevin Gausman will be ready to pitch in relief in game #7. We can imagine the same for Bryan Woo, who pitched yesterday (in relief) for the first time in the series.

If the Mariners ever make it to the World Series, they should have the resources in the rotation to contend with the Dodgers – especially if they win tomorrow night. Seattle, with Woo back healthy, has more options.

Seeing the Dodgers' rotation cross swords with the Mariners' would be Pitching Ninja's dream, in my opinion.

If the Blue Jays go through and use Yesavage, Bieber and Gausman, you'd think Gausman would be ready, regardless, to pitch Friday's game. But the rotation wouldn't be perfectly aligned, let's say.

Note that Toronto is guaranteed home-field advantage if the club advances to the World Series, but the Mariners are not.

This content was created with the help of AI.

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