In 2024, the Mariners' rotation of Logan Gilbert, Luis Castillo, George Kirby, Bryan Woo and Bryce Miller was the single best in baseball. Unfortunately, the team forgot how to hit, and thus the best pitched year in the team's existence [since, say, 2003] was wasted.
Then earlier this year, the lineup, led by Julio Rodriguez, Cal Raleigh and Randy Arozarena, jumped back into form and led the AL East for a while, even though the rotation was hampered by a ton of injuries. Woo and Castillo were there all year, and Gilbert joined up eventually, with Kirby and Miller missing swaths of the year. By August, when the team had already added Naylor and Suarez, Kirby and Miller were back, and the rotation finally clicked into place again. Yes, the bats were gonna be the headline, but this rotation was good again, and helpful again. Losing Woo right before the playoffs was disappointing, but the other guys were able to step up and hold the line.
Flash forward to the other night. The Mariners win over the Tigers in a 15-inning team effort, but in doing so, completely exhaust their entire pitching staff. Kirby, Gilbert and Castillo all pitched multiple innings and ruled themselves out for a potential Game 1 of an ALCS, as did many bullpen guys. The next stage would be there, but winning Game 5 was more important in that moment. So when they actually won, the decision to pitch Bryce Miller on three days' rest was, inevitably, a risky one. The Jays had plenty of time to rest their starters, and in addition they added two more, Max Scherzer and Chris Bassitt, to the mix. The Mariners would be going into a tough matchup with one of their main assets, their pitching, equalized.
That they won Game 1 is proof that the rotation is amazing again. Everything that happened last year and this spring was buildup to this moment: the rotation can win games as much as Jorge Polanco can.
Bryce Miller, when the team needed him to, pitched a beaut, going 6 innings and only giving up 2 hits, including a leadoff homer to George Springer. He locked in, leaving many outs to the defense, and only needed to strike out 3. It also helped that Gabe Speier didn't tie the game, and that Polanco was able to add insurance runs rather than force a stalemate, but Miller stepped up and earned the win, on a night where he could have been exploited by a tough, even Mariners team.
It may only be Game 1, and the Jays may have yet to bring Trey Yesavage or Shane Bieber out, but the Mariners have already proven that they have enough to outlast the Jays in tough pitching battles like these. It's only gonna get tighter once the good starters have their full rest. Game 2 will be Logan Gilbert on short rest after he pitched a couple innings. We'll see if he has a similar performance to Miller.
No comments:
Post a Comment