SEATTLE — In this American League Championship Series, the worst thing you can be is the home team. It’s better to play nine innings in hell than to host one of these strange affairs.
In Toronto, the Blue Jays forgot how to hit and dropped two games. Now in Seattle, the Mariners have taken some scissors to their cushion, and they appear committed to self-sabotage until every feather spills out of the thing.
During the regular season, these teams recorded the best two home records in the American League. They had a combined .648 winning percentage in their ballparks. Both teams also finished below .500 on the road. But you can bury that 162-game pile of evidence. This pennant pursuit has lured Seattle and Toronto into a parallel dimension, and everything is fickle around here. Their friendly confines have turned into frenemy confines.
At least it’s equally unfair. The Blue Jays tied the series at 2 on Thursday with an 8-2 victory at T-Mobile Park, their second straight blowout of a Seattle team known for its pitching. They arrived here on their deathbed, down 0-2 and needing to win at least two of three road games to avoid elimination. Now, as the Blue Jays enter Game 5 on Friday, they’ve already won back everything they fumbled away. It’s a new series, and this time, the Mariners are reeling. If Toronto can sweep the Seattle games and take a 3-2 lead, Seattle might buckle.
Then again, the Blue Jays will still need to win a home game to advance to the World Series. So maybe the Mariners have ’em right where they want ’em?
“Baseball. Weird. You know what I mean?” Toronto Manager John Schneider said when trying to explain the home-field disadvantage.
He searched to find the words.
He gave up.
“Who knows?” Schneider said. “I can’t really explain it.”
Baseball. Weird.
In Toronto, the Mariners have outscored the home team 13-4. In Seattle, the Blue Jays have outscored the home team 21-6. Yet as bad as it was for Toronto to fall behind in the series, it’s more alarming to see how quickly the Mariners’ good vibes deflated. They didn’t just come home ahead by two games. They returned to a city in full belief mode, one starting to act like the World Series was its destiny.
So imagine the anxiety now. It warrants medical attention.
Just a week ago, the Mariners outlasted the Detroit Tigers in a 15-inning marathon to advance to this round. That triumph was supposed to drain them. Instead, it vaulted them to take early command of the ALCS. As the lone remaining franchise that has never made it to the World Series, Seattle was closer than ever. It felt like something mystical was happening.
Fans started believing it was bigger than baseball. Some put their faith in the spell that a fan bought from a witch on Etsy to “fix” the team. Some believed in mascot magic after Humpy, the lovable loser of T-Mobile Park’s “Salmon Run” races, finally won in the 15th inning of the American League Division Series.
Soon after the fan-friendly distraction, Jorge Polanco came to the plate in the bottom of the 15th and delivered the walk-off single that sent Seattle to the ALCS for the first time since 2001. During the regular season, Humpy was winless against three other salmon mascots. And with one bold marketing decision, he became a symbol of the Mariners’ resilience.
During a fan rally at City Hall before Game 4, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell proclaimed Thursday to be “Humpy Day.” He stood beside the salmon, rallied the crowd and led a one-mile march to the ballpark.
“This is going in our history books,” Harrell said.
An announced sellout crowd of 46,981 came to T-Mobile Park, anticipating the Mariners would take a 3-1 series lead. When first baseman Josh Naylor hit a solo homer in the second inning, the bitter aftertaste of Wednesday’s 13-4 loss turned into fresh hope that this night would end happily.
After all, Toronto was starting Max Scherzer, the 41-year-old fading legend who posted a 5.19 ERA this season. In his previous two starts, Scherzer had a 17.47 ERA. He hadn’t pitched since Sept. 24. He was left off the ALDS roster. But he allowed just two runs over 5⅔ innings on Thursday and kept the Mariners’ lineup off-balance. He wasn’t the Scherzer who went 3-0 during the Washington Nationals’ 2019 title run, but he still summoned Mad Max when he needed him.
“It was awesome. I thought he was going to kill me,” said Schneider, who came out for a mound visit with Scherzer in the fifth inning, only to be greeted by the pitcher’s classic intensity. “He locked eyes with me, both colors, as I walked out.”
Added Schneider: “Dude’s 41. He lives for this, and you have to respect that, and you have to appreciate that.”
The Mariners looked lost against Scherzer. On the other side, the Blue Jays put on another hitting clinic. Five of their 11 hits went for extra bases. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was brilliant again. Andrés Giménez and the bottom of the order continued to do damage. Toronto’s balance and consistent approach was too much again for the Seattle pitching staff. Luis Castillo lasted just 2⅓ innings. Another game got away from the Mariners early.
And Humpy finished last in Thursday’s race.
There is nothing cozy about home anymore.
“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” Seattle catcher Cal Raleigh said. “Now, it’s a best-of-three.”
It feels more desperate than that for the Mariners. But two days ago, you could’ve said the same about the Blue Jays. The biggest change has been the location. Dating back to their playoff meeting in 2022, the Blue Jays and Mariners have played six postseason games. The road team has won all of them.
If the trend continues Friday, Toronto should forfeit its home-field advantage and finish the series here, in the land of racing salmon, where old legends turn back the clock and the Blue Jays keep tormenting an elite Seattle pitching staff aided by a notorious pitcher-friendly ballpark.
Baseball. Weird.
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