Mariners fans had been waiting a while for THE Eugenio Suarez performance they'd been promised. He'd been so good in Arizona and was much less consistent in Seattle, and was constantly in position to succeed in October with this team and just couldn't. Tonight, however, Geno gave the Mariners fans a rare home playoff win with a two-homer night, including a grand slam. This is Eugenio Suarez. I dunno why he took this long to get here. But there he was.
You're seeing the best of this team finally showing up. Getting the Jays in trouble when the 'pen comes in. Pitching Bryce Miller and Bryan Woo and keeping things close. Randy robbin' a homer. Andres Munoz making the case for his own October supremacy. Cal Raleigh tying the game. Geno is the cherry on top. The Mariners always worried me heading into October, as they've always talked a big game but never committed, and now they have the team that can commit. Their best starter right now is the one guy who struggled all year, and the guy who put them in winning position is the guy that was striking out for most of September.
The Mariners are one game from their first ever World Series. They just have to win one game in Toronto. Yes, they've won two already...but you can never count this Blue Jays team out.
So to recap: one win from their second consecutive World Series berth, the Dodgers put Shohei Ohtani on the mound, and he proceeded to go 6 innings of 2-hit ball, striking out 10, while also hitting THREE HOME RUNS. How can anyone compete with that? The Brewers have a lot of great things, but they don't have a guy who can shut you out AND hit three home runs against you. They don't even have a guy who can shut you out OR hit three home runs against you for this series.
The Dodgers had all of the pieces. It took them a while to fall into place but there was the hope that they would in October, and they have. The starting pitching was incredible this series. The bats were all awake. The bullpen behaved. In this Brewers series, they barely showed weakness. Game 1 was it, and then they completely plowed ahead, only unlike last year's World Series they left no room for the Brewers' mercy. They exploited the Brewers for what they were: a very lucky collection of young and talented people who all got hot at the right time...but that time wasn't now.
The Dodgers are now the favorites to win the gold. They are now the alpha. Which means everyone's gonna pray for an upset.
The ultimate flaw of the Brewers' season is that they had enough to get past the Cubs, but not enough to get past the Dodgers in October. Once again, this is the one hurdle they could not pass.
I have no doubt, though, considering how young this team is, that they will be back. Chourio is only getting stronger, and has already proven himself as a postseason favorite. You can already see Chad Patrick and Jacob Misiorowski keeping October offenses down. Turang, Frelick, Collins and Durbin are gonna be at this for a while. Getting rid of some of the flashes in the pan and continuing to farm this team up using the excellent farm system is gonna lead to a very sustainable, very competitive team. And plus, they've got leverage over Craig Counsell.
Jays-Mariners resumes in a couple days. The Jays are up against the wall, which is where you really don't want them.
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