Huge Opportunity Awaits Mariners With Game 7 Against Blue Jays

In 48 years of Seattle Mariners baseball they have never faced a moment like the one they will Monday.

The Mariners will play their first-ever Game 7 when they face their second and final chance to reach the World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday night at Rogers Centre.

The Mariners, of course, have never been to the World Series. But they also have never won a best-of-7 series in nearly five decades of MLB play.

Yet, both of those facts can change if they can do what they can win one more game.

George Kirby Will Start For The Mariners in Game 7

Though staff ace Luis Castillo is available after throwing just 48 pitches in Game 4, George Kirby will be the trivia answer for which Mariners pitcher started the first Game 7 in franchise history.

Kirby is 0-1 with a 7.07 ERA in three starts this postseason. He was rocked for eight earned runs and three home runs in just three innings in Seattle’s 13-4 loss to the Blue Jays in Game 3 that started Toronto’s 3-1 run after the M’s won the first two games at Rogers Centre.

Still, Kirby is confident entering Game 7.

“I love pitching under pressure and am super glad I’m able to get Game 7,” Kirby said.

The Mariners are 1-2 in Kirby’s three postseason starts this year, with the lone win coming in the epic 15-inning 3-2 win in Game 5 of the ALDS against the Detroit Tigers.

Yet, like that game — where seven pitchers threw, including Castillo and fellow starter Logan Gilbert — everyone will be available out of the bullpen, except maybe Gilbert, who threw 75 pitches in four inconsistent innings in Game 6 on Sunday.

“[Kirby is] the guy that we want in that situation and he’s thrown the ball well, and it’s his spot,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “George will be the starter, and we expect to have an all-hands-on-deck down there in the bullpen and ready to go at any point.”

With the potential for three days off before Game 1 of the World Series on Friday, starters Castillo and Bryan Woo, high-leverage setup man Gabe Speier and closer Andres Munoz should all be available for multiple innings Monday.

Mariners Have Experience In Do-Or-Die Games

The Mariners offense has been held in check over the past four games — outside of their five-run outburst in their 6-2 win at T-Mobile Park in Game 5.

But after becoming the first team in MLB postseason history to ground into consecutive inning-ending double plays with the bases loaded Sunday — they grounded into inning-ending DPs in three straight frames to close the third, fourth and fifth innings against Blue Jays starter Trey Yesavage — the high-octane Mariners hitters are still looking forward to Game 7.

“Everybody will be excited and ready to go for that challenge,” Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh said, according to MLB.com. “It’s just about going out there, controlling your emotions and trying to control those at-bats and those pitches, one by one.”

The Mariners will have a less-difficult task than they did in Game 5 of the ALDS, though like Tarik Skubal, Toronto starter Shane Bieber is a Cy Young Award winner. But even though they were 2 for 11 with runners in scoring position in that do-or-die game — which is why Game 5 went 15 innings — the M’s ultimately did what it took to win and advance.

“It’s a great opportunity,” Raleigh said. “We’ve been here before, in the round before. So we’ll try to take that to our advantage and come out ready to go.”

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