When the postseason lights shine bright, George Kirby has proven brighter. It’s why Mariners manager Dan Wilson named him the Game 1 starter of the American League Division Series. It’s why he was in line for last weekend’s do-or-die Game 5 with the Detroit Tigers, the spark in Seattle’s 15-inning instant classic. And looking back, it’s why Kirby threw seven shutout frames in a must-have 2022 ALDS Game 3 — when his archrival Houston Astros prevailed 18 innings later.
“Furious George” was one of four pitchers in postseason history to record 20+ strikeouts and two-or-fewer walks in his first four playoff appearances, joining the likes of Yu Darvish (2012-17) and Christy Mathewson (1905-1911). He owned a 2.70 ERA in his last six home starts of the regular season, more than comfortable in the pitcher-friendly confines of T-Mobile Park.
All of it made Wednesday night’s collapse in Game 3 of the ALCS that much more head-scratching.
This wasn’t the George Kirby a sea of Mariners fans know and love. It wasn’t what a sellout crowd at T-Mobile Park expected, nor wanted — a quick, painful demise at the hands of the Toronto Blue Jays in the city’s first ALCS home game since 2001.
A Kingdome-like implosion defied Seattle’s — and Kirby’s — postseason script. The starters were sensational in the ALDS, the bullpen equally nasty. The backbone of this team has remained its pitching staff for years, the engine for the Mariners’ first AL West title since 2001.
Julio Rodriguez jolted a rocking T-Mobile Park with a two-run homer in the first inning Wednesday night — but the Blue Jays offense rose from the ashes of Rodriguez’s bomb and rolled the Mariners, 13-4, in Game 3 of the ALCS in Seattle. The Mariners still lead this best-of-seven series, 2-1, but lost momentum ahead of a crucial Game 4.
It wasn’t the standing ovation Kirby was accustomed to, either, as Wilson emerged from the first-base dugout to relieve a dejected 27-year-old when bad turned to worse. Blue Jays superstar Vladimir Guerrero Jr. crushed a leadoff homer in the fifth inning before Anthony Santander drew a five-pitch walk that cued the floodgates. The playoff atmosphere morphed from a packed October night to a chilly, Tuesday night in May.
Kirby walked briskly from mound to clubhouse. He allowed three home runs, surrendering eight hits and eight earned runs while issuing two walks and four strikeouts with a wild pitch. The strike-thrower with a knack for working ahead in counts threw a total of 74 pitches — mostly sinkers and sliders — but only 47 found the zone.
And unlike the rest of the Mariners rotation, Kirby was throwing on typical rest. His last appearance was a spellbinding performance in Game 5 of the ALDS, the magical 15-inning night of Oct. 10 capped by Jorge Polanco’s walk-off single that sent them here. Kirby shut down the Detroit Tigers across five-plus innings, striking out six without a walk and allowing one earned run on a two-run homer eventually surrendered by Seattle reliever Gabe Speier.
This was the opposite.
Kirby rolled early, retiring six of Toronto’s first seven batters with well-placed four-seamers and an effective slider. But all of it unraveled in a 28-pitch third inning, after Rodriguez’s two-run blast sent T-Mobile Park into bedlam and lifted the Mariners ahead, 2-0.
From then on? A dozen unanswered Blue Jays runs.
“I definitely came out the way I wanted to,” Kirby said. “I wasn’t really executing when they got the guys on base, and they’re really aggressive when that happens. They made some swings. I wasn’t really making a lot of good pitches there in the third and fourth.”
Toronto’s Ernie Clement turned on an inside Kirby sinker for a leadoff double in the third. An innocent, anomalistic piece of hitting, at first glance. A frightening foreshadowing, in hindsight.
Two pitches later, Toronto nine-hitter Andres Gimenez had launched a skyscraping two-run homer into the right-field seats — tying Wednesday’s game at two. Blue Jays left fielder Nathan Lukes drove an inside Kirby sinker to center field for a one-out single; Guerrero Jr. then rocketed his first of two extra-base hits off the left field wall for a double. Gone were the good vibes.
Kirby walked catcher Alejandro Kirk before a wild pitch thrown to Daulton Varsho scored Toronto’s go-ahead run, 3-2. All before Varsho cranked another off-the-wall double to right field, blowing Game 3 open and capping a five-run Blue Jays third.
46,471 couldn’t believe it.
“I thought (George) came out with one of the best fastballs we’ve seen in the first couple of innings,” Wilson said. “And I thought the way it was coming out of his hand looked great. They were able to get to some pitches on the plate in that third inning. … (Toronto) is a team that’s swung the bat well all year.
“They didn’t miss much tonight.”
Guerrero Jr. went 4-for-4 with a fourth-inning solo blast, two doubles, a single, and a walk on a night that pulled Toronto right back into this best-of-seven ALCS. Blue Jays starter Shane Bieber threw six strong innings, allowing two earned runs on four hits with a walk and eight strikeouts.
Kirby allowed just three earned runs in four prior postseason appearances (18 IP). Wednesday night more than tripled that total.
“I was just trying to be really cute with it,” he said. “Some sliders just leaked over the middle. Missed a heater to Gimenez there. Tried to go up, threw it down. It’s alright. Next time I’m out there, I’ll fix that.
“I’m never going to stray away from what I do well — get ahead and be in the zone.”
Shocking? Yes. Unbelievable? No — Toronto was one of MLB’s best offenses in 2025, leading all major league clubs in team batting average (.265) and hits (1,461). They ranked third in team OPS (.760) throughout the 2025 regular season and crushed New York Yankees pitching in four games of the ALDS, pacing postseason clubs in OPS (.890) and slugging percentage (.542).
It’s why many national pundits picked Toronto’s offense to prevail in this ALCS opposite Seattle’s dynamite pitching staff. George Springer is still one of the league’s best leadoff hitters. Guerrero Jr. has ascended into the game’s elite. And though Seattle’s Cal Raleigh is baseball’s most-dangerous catcher with the bat in his hands, Toronto’s Alejandro Kirk makes a strong case as the next man on the list — whose .282 batting average led all qualified MLB backstops in 2025.
The Blue Jays, considered baseball’s premier “comeback” team, are showing why. When Rodriguez yanked a three-run homer in the first inning of Game 2, Toronto tied the game by the second inning. That story materialized again at T-Mobile Park on Wednesday.
If the Mariners can’t win Games 4 and 5 for the home crowd, they’ll board another flight bound for Canada — where a potential pennant celebration would be stunningly quieter.
“It’s kind of what we did all year,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “No one expected us to win the (AL East). No one expected us to be here, and I think the guys take that to heart. I couldn’t be prouder of the way they came about today.”
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