Kirby and Mariners Poised on the Edge of Baseball’s Ultimate Showdown—But What’s Standing in Their Way?

I’ve been a supporter of Toronto for quite some time now. The Blue Jays have been a team that I’ve thought has underperformed for a few years, and now they are finally playing up to their capabilities. They’ve had virtually everything you would need to be successful, they’ve been involved in almost every big name player on the market, but they just couldn’t find the right combination to make lasting success. Now they have the chance to get to the World Series, and everything is going wrong for them. In Game 1, they got the scoring started with a leadoff homer from George Springer. Unfortunately, that was all of their offense. In Game 2, they gave up a big lead to the Mariners right away. While the Blue Jays tied it, up after two innings, they didn’t score the rest of the game. So in two games, Toronto has scored three runs in the first, and four total runs in the first and second inning. After that, nothing. Tonight, they send out Shane Bieber to try and lock down a rolling Mariners offense. Bieber was a bit of a flyer deadline acquisition from Toronto, now being thrust into the biggest game of the season. He gave Toronto a solid 40.1 innings in the regular season, but was knocked around a bit by the Yankees in his postseason start, going just 2.2 innings and allowing two earned runs. Mariners hitters are batting just .229 against him, with J.P. Crawford having the most success, going 6-for-12 against him.