Blue Jays in big ALCS hole to Mariners after weekend losses

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This is not a real obituary for the Blue Jays' disappointing holiday weekend. It just feels like that.

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There are many reasons why this plucky team was so easy to support from start to finish in an inspiring 2025 season.

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They play hard. They are not easily confused. And they showed remarkable staying power in the final season to reinvigorate followers from coast to coast, who were amazed at what they had achieved.

But after an uncompetitive 10-3 rout of the Seattle Mariners on a spoiled Thanksgiving Monday at Rogers Center, it was time for desperation.

And it was the biggest test yet for a team that missed out on what certainly seemed like a huge opportunity this October.

Two big hits from Seattle's hitter Monday gave the Mariners what was essentially the lead, winning the first two games of the best-of-seven ALCS here in Toronto.

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It was an excruciating three hours and 28 minutes of baseball, an ordeal followed by a long, quiet charter flight to the Pacific Northwest, where a series of three games or less begins Wednesday.

Game 2, played in front of a sold-out crowd of 44,814 at Rogers Center with open roofmuch of it could be boiled down to a couple of powerful hits from the Mariners' hitters. In the first inning, Julio Rodriguez attacked Jays rookie Trey Yesavage's pitch with a three-run rocket over the wall in left, the first hit of the postseason allowed by the right-handed phenom.

In fact, the second hit was the most damaging, considering the Jays quickly overcame a 3-0 deficit late in the second. A knife to the back was thrown by two batters after Yesavage was removed and Louis Warland hung a fastball over the plate that Jorge Polanco promptly sent over the wall in deep center field for a three-run throw.

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Our conclusions from a series that has only released two games, but is much more depressing.

WHAT HIT THEM?

Let's start with a very good Mariners team that won the AL West. They can compete for power and have roster versatility and attacking depth.

And now a Seattle team that didn't play in the ALCS leads the series 2-0, reminiscent of a two-game sweep here in the 2022 wild card round. The Mariners have now played four postseason games in Toronto and won them all, outscoring the Jays by a combined 27-13.

Despite an early comeback that kept the stadium buzzing, the Jays were not strong enough to match the deeper and better Mariners. Toronto's bullpen, which has been a concern all season, has once again been exposed.

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It also wasn't the right time for Yesavage, who pitched the Yankees through 5.1 hitless innings in his first postseason start, to hesitate. A day after he pleaded with the public to stop harassing a member of his family, Yesavage walked the first two batters he faced before allowing a homer to Rodriguez. The final line for the 22-year-old: four innings, four hits, three walks, five earned runs and four strikeouts.

WHAT NOW?

This is where things get even tougher for a Jays team hoping to reach the World Series for the first time since 1993. Shane Bieber starts Game 3 on Wednesday, and they will need acquisitions in the timing of a major trade to be much more consistent than he has been lately.

And then comes Game 4, where the first signs are that Max Scherzer, who was not in the Yankees series lineup, will get the call in an attempt to find his magic.

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Even though there is a day off to acclimatize, even the travel situation is an advantage for the Mariners, a team that has more miles logged than any of the major teams.

OPPORTUNITY LOST

First things first: Credit to the Mariners, who arrived in Toronto tired after a 15-inning Game 5 win over the Tigers in Seattle on Friday. It was a chance for the Jays to pounce on a good team and take an early lead in what was always going to be a tough series.

It didn't take deep handicapping to see that the M's were not only in much better shape than the Jays' first opponent, the Yankees, but in far superior shape.

Moreover, a large part of the motivation for winning the AL East was to secure home-field advantage throughout the ALCS. With a 54–27 regular season record at Rogers Center, the Jays had the best home record in the AL. On the road they turned out to be a much friendlier team with a modest score of 40-41.

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SECOND GUESS

Manager John Schneider has pulled a lot of the right levers this season, but in each of his first two losses hook time It didn't end well for his starting pitcher.

In Game 1, Kevin Gausman was ejected after allowing a solo homer to Cal Raleigh and walking Rodriguez. But with Gausman having a low pitch count and after a solid performance to that point, Brandon Little was brought in and gave up what would have been a game-winning RBI single to Polanco.

Oh.

Monday's game was also tied when Yesavage got the hook only to watch from the bench as Polanco's shot to center field gave the Mariners a lead they wouldn't relinquish.

WE ARE RECRUITING FOR

Once Polanco's blast left the plate, the Mariners continued to send the message, adding another run in the sixth and two more in the seventh on a towering home run from Mississauga native Josh Naylor.

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And now the return math is stacked squarely against the Jays. MLB teams that led 2-0 in a best-of-seven postseason series won 78 of 93 times, or 83.9%. Doing it on the road in the LCS round is even more challenging, as 14 of the 15 teams in that venue have won. The only loser among this group was the 2020 Braves, who lost to the Dodgers in a neutral-site series played in Texas.

On Monday, it came down to this: After pitcher Yariel Rodriguez walked three straight batters to load the bases, recovering starter Chris Bassitt came to the plate in relief.

Finally, it was a disappointing weekend for two enthusiastic sold-out crowds who once again filled the stadium expecting much more from their 94-win team.

Unfortunately, the stadium was less than half full. Barring a spirited rally in Seattle, this could be the last baseball game they see in Toronto in 2025.

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