If you tuned in for any of the long, extra-innings games between the Seattle Mariners and the Detroit Tigers in the American League Divisional Series, you know how excruciating it was to watch Seattle's lineup.
The Mariners were already heavily dependent on the home run ball during the season. In an era of three true outcomes (walk, strikeout, home run), the AL West champs were truly a modern offense. They slugged their way to that division title, and their offense also went cold for long stretches when they weren't hitting the ball over the fence.
It was an all or nothing offense, and we all went on the grueling ride with them as they finally scratched out the final run in the 15th inning of game 5 to defeat the Tigers and advance to the American League Championship Series.
Given how that series ended, and given the dynamic offense on display from the Toronto Blue Jays in these playoffs as the other team in the ALCS, it would take a jarring change for it to feel like the Mariners had enough offense to reach the World Series.
One 10-runs-in-a-game showing and one 2-0 series lead later, we are seeing just that kind of unexpected change from the Mariners. It is not something any reasonable person would have expected less than one week ago.
Today
- The Mariners had no offense, now they have all the offense
- The Dodgers are different, but the Dodgers also feel the same
- What do you get when you sign Joe Flacco?
The "all" side of all or nothing
Game 1 of the ALCS was a grind for both lineups. The Blue Jays and Mariners both struggled to score runs as Seattle took the opening game with a 3-1 win.
For Toronto, it was a lightning strike in the first inning that seemed to set the stage for a strong offensive game. Instead, George Springer's homer scored their only run, and they only managed one more hit the rest of the game.
For Seattle, it was a few clutch swings to get those runs on the board. But it immediately felt like things loosening up for an offense that desperately needed it. Knowing full well that this is hindsight after just two games, I look at Cal Raleigh's home run to tie game 1 and wonder if it started the swing back in the right direction for Seattle's lineup.
Because let me tell you, Seattle's offense has been hot since that moment. They scored two more to win game 1, and then they routed the Blue Jays 10-3 in game 2 to take a 2-0 series lead back to Seattle.
Julio Rodriguez went deep. Jorge Polanco stayed hot after delivering the walk-off RBI in the ALDS and driving in the go-ahead runs in game 1. Josh Naylor had three hits and a home run. They had contributions up and down the lineup, and now they are in the driver's seat for a ticket to the World Series.
It's not as if they are just hitting home runs, but you can still feel the all or nothing-ness of this offense in the events of the last few games. And with Seattle being a ballpark that seems to dampen offense, there's a chance that we will see these Mariners shift back to the other end of this spectrum, struggling once again to score runs or even consistently put the ball in play.
But if we don't see another significant change in the next couple games, it might just be that an all or nothing approach ended up being the right approach and this is the year that the Mariners finally reach their first World Series.
The same, but different, but annoying all the same
The Los Angeles Dodgers won the 2024 World Series. They did so by effectively not having any starting pitchers.
Yes, someone did technically start their games for them. But it was all about their bullpen and a rotating cast of characters who pieced together each win, inning by inning, to deliver a world championship.
One of the entries in my collection of essays about last fall (available here!) was called "Now you know Anthony Banda." Those relievers were such fixtures that they were temporarily household names, presuming you were talking about a household that was tuning into the MLB playoffs each night.
I wondered at the time if the trend might go the other direction for this year's playoffs. Batters saw so much of the opposing bullpen in a condensed period of time that the advantage seemed to wane. It was like the third-time-through-the-order penalty for starting pitchers, just spread out over a couple days.
Knowing that, maybe teams would give starting pitchers a longer line and we would see them pitcher deeper into games.
There is still plenty of bullpen in this year's playoffs. There have still been bullpen games. But we are also seeing some longer outings from starting pitchers. Perhaps none was more impressive than Blake Snell's eight shutout innings on Monday to give the Dodgers a 1-0 series lead over the Milwaukee Brewers in the NLCS.
For the Dodgers, maybe the formula isn't that different. They ride three incredible star players and future Hall of Famers: Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Freddie Freeman. They round out the rest of their lineup with players ranging from all stars to solid role players. And they somehow patch it together with pitching. Last year it was with their bullpen, and now it's depending more on their starters.
Maybe that's how we get here. The 2024 Dodgers team rode their bullpen hard en route to a World Series victory. The 2025 Dodgers are trying to avoid their bullpen as much as they can. It's a much different team, yet it also feels like the same old Dodgers as they keep pulling off close wins in these playoffs.
They wanted Joe Flacco for what?
Former quarterback Trent Green was in the booth alongside Kevin Harlan for this week's game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Green Bay Packers. One of the stories for the game was the change at quarterback for the Bengals.
With superstar Joe Burrow effectively out for the year, Cincy's offense has been lifeless with backup Jake Browning at the helm. Some of this has been tough match-ups. Some has been their truly awful offensive line. And yes, some of the trouble was created by Browning's bad play.
It's understandable they would make a change. It's even understandable that they would go with a journeyman, still-just-barely-hanging on veteran like Joe Flacco.
The Bengals traded for Flacco last week and then started him against the Packers. In describing their motivation to make that deal, Green said that the Bengals were looking for "a spark."
This made me laugh. Has anyone ever watched Joe Flacco do anything and described it as a spark?
That said, I hope teams keep turning to Flacco. He's on that short list of professional athletes who are older than me and still playing.
Odds and ends
- Speaking of my fellow old guys, my hope that we'll see Max Scherzer in the playoffs is still alive after the Blue Jays added him to the ALCS roster (USA Today).
- Want to find yourself confused almost immediately? Try putting together NFL power rankings after week 6. Browse this list and you'll see what I mean (The Ringer).
- Davy Andrews has more about Blake Snell's dominant showing, as the lefty faced the minimum number of hitters through those eight shutout innings (FanGraphs).
There's only one option for a video to wrap this one up. The Brewers had a never-before-seen double play on Monday. Center fielder Sal Frelick's face says it for all.
Happy Tuesday.
