The Toronto Blue Jays are preparing for a border showdown in the American League Championship Series, awaiting the winner of the Detroit Tigers and Seattle Mariners.
The Tigers and Mariners will meet in Game 5 of their AL Division Series on Friday in Seattle, with the winner heading to Toronto for Game 1 of the ALCS on Sunday.
Detroit's Comerica Park is about four hours from Toronto and just across the bridge from Windsor, Ontario, while Seattle's T-Mobile Park is about three hours south of Vancouver, home of the Blue Jays' High-A affiliate, the Vancouver Canadians.
Toronto has faced Seattle only once in the postseason, in 2022, when the Mariners won a best-of-three wild card series at Rogers Centre.
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The Blue Jays won the 2025 season series 4–2, including a three-game win in May.
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Seattle boasts enormous power, led by AL MVP contender Cal Raleigh.
The star catcher led Major League Baseball with 60 home runs and had 125 RBIs in 159 regular-season games. He is currently batting .438 along with one homer and four RBIs in four playoff games.
Eugenio Suarez, who returned to Seattle from Arizona at the trade deadline, ranked fifth in the majors with 49 homers and finished with 117 RBIs.
At the end of the season, the Mariners surged past Houston to capture their first AL West title since 2001. George Kirby and Luis Castillo anchor Seattle's rotation, and pitcher Andres Munoz finished second in the AL with 38 saves.
The Blue Jays also beat Detroit 4-3 in their season series, with their last meeting coming in late July.
However, the two clubs have never met in the playoffs. Their most memorable showdown came in 1987, when the first-place Blue Jays led the Tigers by 3 1/2 games a week before the end of the regular season. Toronto has lost seven in a row, ending in Detroit last weekend and finishing with two games in the division.
Riley Greene led the Tigers this year with 36 homers and 111 RBIs, while Detroit also boasts arguably the best pitcher in the American League in Tarik Skubal.
With Friday's game on the schedule, Toronto won't have to face either team's ace early in the ALCS. Skubal is projected to start for Detroit, while Kirby is expected to get the ball for Seattle.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 9, 2025.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
