Blue Jays will need to find success on the road to stay within arm’s reach in the ALCS

Dropping the first two contests is a tough pill to swallow, especially since the Blue Jays had the home-field advantage, and they now have three games ahead of them at T-Mobile Park to contend with. This doesn’t include the Mariners’ pitching staff, which has been one of the strongest rotations this season (with some added insurance with the return of Bryan Woo), a top-notch bullpen, and a batting order that can hit for power, contact, steal bases, and can give an opponent fits, as evidenced in last night’s game.

If we take a look back at the Blue Jays’ past postseason records following two games in a respective series, the Jays have been in a similar spot before (0-2), and things are not looking too good if history is planning to repeat itself.

The Jays were down 0-2 in the 1989 ALCS (A’s), 2015 ALDS (Rangers), 2015 ALCS (Royals), and 2016 ALCS (Cleveland), and of those series, the only one the Jays stormed back to win was the 2015 matchup against Texas, which featured the Bautista bat flip. The A’s would go on to win the 1989 World Series, and so did the Royals in 2015.

That’s not to say that it’s impossible the Blue Jays can’t come back to put up some sort of fight against the Mariners down the stretch, but the odds certainly aren’t in their favour given the current outlook. The Mariners have all the momentum as the next three games head back out West, and even if the Canadian faithful make the trek down across the border to support the Blue Jays, it will still be tough to wrangle the series back in their favour.

Shane Bieber is coming off the worst postseason appearance of his career against the Yankees and starts Game 3, while the Jays could turn to Max Scherzer for Game 4, who hasn’t pitched since September 24th against the Boston Red Sox. Despite not pitching for some time, Scherzer struggled through September (5.34 FIP with 17 earned through 15 innings), and while he is reportedly feeling better compared to when the season ended, that’s a lot of pressure on the Jays starter to try and help turn things around, especially if the Jays drop Game 3. There are other options the Jays can turn to, such as starting Kevin Gausman on short rest or turning in a bullpen game, but either option has complications down the line if the Jays win a game or two. It will be a ‘wait and see’ moment for sure.

This all sounds doom and gloom, but there is some shining light at the end of the tunnel for those who wish to seek it out.

When the Jays were on the West Coast swing back in May, they swept the Mariners at their home park, taking all three games with 21 runs in their favour compared to Seattle and their seven. That was against Luis Castillo (yet to face), Miller (who pitched well in Game 1), and Logan Evans, who is not on the roster and finished the year on the IL. The Blue Jays bullpen didn’t allow a single earned run across those three games as well. The caveat is that the Mariners are a different team this time around, with some new faces compared to then, but there is a glimmer of recent history on the Blue Jays’ side for those in the ‘glass half full’ category.

The Blue Jays will need to figure things out on both sides of the diamond if they want to keep their World Series aspirations alive. Taking the first game in Seattle will be a big step in the right direction, as 0-3 deficit is surely a recipe for disaster.