Rowley, Polanco and Miller play well as Mariners efficiently defeat Blue Jays in ALCS Game 1

Jorge Polanco played the hero Friday night with an RBI single off the Tigers’ Tommy Kahnle in the 15th inning to end an epic Division Series Game 5. Two days later, in the American League Championship Series opener in Toronto, Polanco added to his October highlight reel with a pair of RBI singles in the bottom of the inning against the Blue Jays’ relievers, the first of which gave Seattle the lead. The switch-second baseman wasn’t the only Mariner to perform well, as Bryce Miller pitched six strong innings on three days’ rest, Carl Rowley hit a game-tying solo home run and three relievers also pitched perfect innings to help the Mariners take Game 1 3-1 in Toronto.

In stark contrast to the 4 hours and 58 minutes of the Division Series final that Seattle advanced to, this was a relatively concise, fast-paced game that ended in just 2 hours and 48 minutes. The Mariners threw 209 pitches to the Tigers on Friday night. Fortunately, the Mariners only needed 100 pitches to defeat the Blue Jays while only giving up 2 hits.

Like that compelling showdown between the two expansion teams in the 1977 ALCS — one seeking its first World Series berth in 32 years, the other seeking its first pennant — the pairing of Blue Jays starters Kevin Gausman and Miller seemed like a mismatch based on their respective arcs. Gausman, who had a strong regular season and got off to a great start in Game 1 of the Division Series against the Yankees, appears to have a considerable advantage over Miller, who has been sidelined by injury this year and was out early against the Tigers in Game 4 of the Division Series after seven days of rest, and started Sunday only because both ALDS Game 2 starter Luis Castillo and Game 3 starter Logan Gilbert were called off in overtime. Game 5.

After allowing just one run in 5 2/3 innings against the Yankees, Gausman nearly allowed one in Game 1 against the Mariners. Rowley and Julio Rodriguez both had singles, with the big swing pitcher reaching third on the latter. Polanco then hit a weak chip shot to third baseman Addison Barger, who was reeled in. His timely pass to catcher Alejandro Kirk beat Rowley; replays indicate the Mariners may sue if they challenge the call. Josh Naylor made it 2-0 before catching a lazy fly ball to center field to start Gausman’s cruising offense. From the time Naylor retired until the Mariners had two outs in the top of the sixth inning, the 34-year-old right-hander retired 15 consecutive batters, five of which were strikeouts.

As for Miller, after a nice little breakout year in 2024, he became the weakest link in Seattle’s rotation this season, in part due to elbow inflammation, which landed him on the injured list twice for a total of 92 days. If his 5.68 ERA and 5.17 FIP weren’t bad enough initially, he posted a 6.79 ERA and 6.09 FIP in 59 2/3 innings from June 5 (two starts before his first absence) to the end of the season. His game isn’t as sharp as it was in 2024, and his strikeout rate plummeted from 24.3% to 18.9% as batters pursued his four-seamers, split balls and sliders much less often. His gaudy 5.68 ERA was the second-highest regular season among 43 pitchers to start a postseason game in either the Wild Card or Division Series, bettered only by Aaron Nola’s 6.01.

Miller threw just 56 pitches in 4 1/3 innings against the Tigers in Game 4 of the Division Series, holding Detroit scoreless through the first four innings before allowing a single to Spencer Torkelson and an RBI double to Dillon Dingler, who soon scored. When the game began, he wasn’t planning on throwing many pitches, and it didn’t take long for him to start thinking he might not make it out of the first inning, as he had only retired one of the Blue Jays’ first four games. His first pitch Sunday night was a 97.3 mph fastball from George Springer that had good outside edge placement, but Springer reached over and hit the ball to right field for a solo home run. Nathan Lukes then connected with Miller on a 12-pitch walk, but the walk was interrupted when Miller fouled his right knee, delaying the game for several minutes. Barger followed with another step, pushing Miller to the edge.

Later, Rowley visited Miller on the mound, and whatever he said changed the 27-year-old right-hander’s attitude. He retired Kirk and Dalton Valshaw on fly balls, with Rodriguez chasing the latter’s 102.5 mph kickoff velocity. All told, Miller threw 27 pitches in the inning.

However, in escaping the first time around, Miller found his groove. He only needed to throw 32 pitches to complete the next four innings, including a one-out single by Anthony Santander in the second inning, his only hit during the stretch. In that game, Santander hit a high first-pitch four-seam from Miller that sailed 100 miles an hour to right field, and Victor Robles—who must have been caught off guard because his defensive alignment card was between his teeth (!)—snapped the ball after it bounced twice, causing it to be squirted away and Santander to advance to second on an error. Still, the Blue Jays put him in trouble.

Riding a 15th straight shutout (16th straight including a home run), Gausman got two outs in the sixth inning, allowing Raleigh to tie the game at 2-2 and try to score a run. He hit the pitch too far from home plate, and Rowley smashed the ball 420 feet to right field for a game-tying home run, his second in the postseason after a staggering 60 home runs in the regular season.

Rodriguez’s night ended after Gausman walked five pitches. He threw 76 pitches with 10 swings and misses, five with his splitter, three with his four-seam (average velocity of 95.4 mph), and two with his slider. The Mariners did hit eight hard hits at 95 mph or higher against him — none harder than Rowley’s 108 mph homer — but five of them were on the ground.

Gausman’s outing might look better. Blue Jays manager John Schneider could have brought in a right-handed reliever to allow Polanco to hit from his weaker side this year; he hit .254/.321/.481 (127 wRC+) against right-handers and a blistering .305/.345/.543 (150 wRC+) against left-handers. That said, career-wise, Polanco has been better against righties (116 wRC+) than lefties (110 wRC+), and two of the next three batters (Naylor and Dominic Canzone) are also lefties. Schneider got a bigger sample size by calling up left-hander Brendon Little, who sent Rodríguez to second with the count loaded. Two pitches later, Polanco blasted a 110.7 mph single to left field, the fastest pitch by either team all night, to plate Rodriguez and give the Mariners a 2-1 lead. Little recovered, knocked Naylor down and ended the threat.

Mariners manager Dan Wilson struck out Miller for the sixth time. He needed just six pitches to retire Myles Straw, who relieved Lux ​​in the fourth, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., but then issued a two-out, four-pitch walk to Bagger. Miller’s night seemed to be over after another visit to the mound, but he stayed and retired Kirk with a fly ball.

The Mariners had a chance to extend their lead in the seventh inning after Eugenio Suárez missed a solo home run by inches and had to hit a resounding double against the right-center field wall against Louis Varland. He advanced to third on a Canzone grounder but went no further. The Mariners did get something going again in the eighth inning, however, when Serantoni Domingos issued a leadoff walk to Randy Arozarena, who stole second and third base after Rowley struck out and the latter didn’t pitch. Rodriguez drew a walk, then Polanco returned to bat in left-handed territory, driving in Arozarena with a single to right field.

Polanco is 6-for-26 in the postseason this season, but five of those hits were huge: Tarik Skubal’s two solo home runs in the ALDS Game 2 win, plus Friday’s game-winning hit. This is already the stuff of legend.

Miller left the game after six innings, matching Gausman’s 76 pitches. While he only allowed one pitch in the first two innings, he finished the night with eight pitches: three each on the four-seamer and splitter, and one each on the sinker and slider. He walked three and struck out three, but allowed just two hits. It was the first time since April 29 that he allowed fewer than two runs in an opening game. Under the circumstances, it was a wonderful outing.

The Mariners bullpen quickly outlasted the Blue Jays after his departure, with Gabe Spear, Matt Brash and Andres Munoz needing just eight pitches each to get the team back in order. They combined for just two whistles, struck out just one batter (Brash struck out Springer in the eighth), but allowed just two hard hits, both routine fly balls. Between Miller and the relievers, the trio of hitters Guerrero, Varshaw and Ernie Clement combined for 25 runs for 47 against the Yankees and no hits in 10 games.

Before the series began, I wondered if the Mariners would experience any hangover effects after their marathon victory. I spent some time with Baseball Reference and looked at the eight previous teams that advanced to the next round of the playoffs in winner-take-all overtime games.

Including the Mariners, teams that won these epic wins went 7-2 in the next series opener. Their overall record so far in this series is 4-4; it doesn’t look like they’re uniformly suffering any hangover effects.

Regardless, the Mariners have now effectively wrested home-field advantage from the Blue Jays. They’ll have Gilbert face rookie Trey Yesavich on Monday, giving them a chance to return to Seattle with a sizable advantage.