SEATTLE — Theoretically, this weekend’s series at T-Mobile Park could be a World Series preview. But the central characters will be different the next time around.
The Dodgers and Seattle Mariners clinched their division titles earlier this week, the Mariners celebrating on Wednesday night and the Dodgers one day later.
The Mariners can still improve their seeding in the American League, so they rolled out their usual lineup on Friday night and left starting pitcher George Kirby in for six innings.
The Dodgers have settled into their No. 3 seed in the National League with their eyes on Tuesday when they will open a best-of-three Wild Card Series at Dodger Stadium. It is the first time since 2018 the Dodgers will not finish with one of the top two records in the NL, so they are cruising through this weekend in rest-and-reset mode. Four regulars (first baseman Freddie Freeman, shortstop Mookie Betts, third baseman Max Muncy and utility man Tommy Edman) were given the night off, a fifth (catcher Will Smith) is on the injured list and their starting pitcher Friday, Emmet Sheehan, went just one inning.
The stand-ins did alright, handing the Mariners a 3-2 setback for the Dodgers’ 91st win of the season.
The most significant inning in a largely insignificant evening of entertainment for a sold-out crowd at T-Mobile Park was the seventh. Leading 3-1, the Dodgers sent out Roki Sasaki as the fifth of their eventual seven pitchers.
It was Sasaki’s second relief appearance and came just two days after his first, the Dodgers testing the waters of what Sasaki can do when treated as a normal reliever.
His first inning in relief was electric. He retired the side in order, struck out two and averaged 99.2 mph with his fastball. Friday was nearly the same.
Sasaki got J.P. Crawford to ground out on a nice backhanded play by third baseman Kiké Hernandez then struck out Cole Young with a 99.7 mph fastball.
Randy Arozarena timed up a 100.1 mph and lined it off the left field wall for a double – setting up an October-worthy test for Sasaki. He struck out AL MVP candidate Cal Raleigh on three splitters, the last so nasty Raleigh waved at it feebly as it dove into the dirt.
Throwing with confidence he seemed to have lost as a struggling rookie starter, Sasaki needed just 12 pitches to retire the side, 11 of them strikes. As he did Wednesday night, Sasaki flashed a simplified two-pitch mix – a four-seam fastball that averaged 99.1 mph and that splitter.
A lead built on Kiké Hernandez’s two-run home run in the third inning and Dalton Rushing’s RBI single in the sixth survived another shaky outing from Blake Treinen. He gave up a walk and two singles as the Mariners scored once in the eighth inning.
That set up the second-most significant inning of the night – Tanner Scott protecting a one-run lead in the ninth inning.
He got the first two outs easily enough, striking out Randy Arozarena for the second. But Scott gave up a two-out double to Raleigh, intentionally walked Julio Rodriguez then grazed Mitch Garver with a pitch to load the bases.
But Scott bounced back to strike out Eugenio Suarez for the save.
More to come on this story.