Mariners' schedule

[WillyM]

Seattle's stadium has a roof, right?  I wouldn't expect they would ever have to worry about making up a rainout.

So why in the world do they have to play a doubleheader on the next-to-last day of the season?

I would think the Mariners' manager must be beating his head against the wall trying to figure out how he's going to organize his pitching staff while playing three games in two days just before the start of the playoffs.

[Spy Fox]

All of the games played this week were originally scheduled for the first week of the season which was locked out. If it was a inter-division matchup where they only visit each other once per year, they didn't have much choice other than a doubleheader or extending the season for a few teams an extra day. (Yankees and Rangers are also in a DH today, in Texas where there's a dome.)

Seattle shouldn't put much strain on their top pitchers. They can't catch Toronto for home field so they're on the road for the WC series either way, and it might be a better matchup facing #3 Cleveland than #4 Toronto. 

If I were a Mariner fan I'd be kinda hoping for TB to pass them for seed 5. 

Edited October 4, 2022 by Spy Fox

[WillyM]

You're right, this must be a series that was originally scheduled for the first week.

Teams with open-air stadiums, like the Orioles, typically schedule their opening series for three games in four days, with an off-date between the first and second games.  This is so that if there's a rainout on the original date of Opening Day, fans who bought tickets for Opening Day can use them when the game is made up on the next day.

The Mariners, who didn't have to worry about a rainout, were free to schedule four games in  four days, so apparently that's what they did.  And with that series having been postponed due to the labor dispute, now they only have three days to get those four games in.

Ironically, the fact that they have a roof on their stadium is a big part of the reason why they have to play a doubleheader now.

[SteveA]

1 hour ago, WillyM said:

Seattle's stadium has a roof, right?  I wouldn't expect they would ever have to worry about making up a rainout.

So why in the world do they have to play a doubleheader on the next-to-last day of the season?

I would think the Mariners' manager must be beating his head against the wall trying to figure out how he's going to organize his pitching staff while playing three games in two days just before the start of the playoffs.

He's bringing Chris Flexen out of the bullpen to start the first game.  Flexen lost his rotation spot when they traded for Castillo in early August.

And Justus Sheffield, who has been in AAA all year with a 6.99 ERA, is the 29th man for the doubleheader, coming up to start the 2nd game.   So he isn't using any of his key starters today, and probably will go with the #5 starter tomorrow (is that Marco Gonzales?).   The top 4 starters -- Castillo, Ray, Gilbert, and Kirby -- will all be rested for the wild card series and probably one of them will be in the pen for that series or held in reserve for G1 of the ALDS.   He'll probably use his "good" relievers today for an inning or so each in the doubleheader, and then only use his Logan Gillaspie types tomorrow, and will have a fresh bullpen by Friday too.

And as Spy Fox pointed out... getting passed by Tampa to be the #3 wild card instead of the #2 means facing Cleveland instead of Toronto.   Is that really a bad thing if you are a Mariner fan?

[Spy Fox]

4 hours ago, SteveA said:

And as Spy Fox pointed out... getting passed by Tampa to be the #3 wild card instead of the #2 means facing Cleveland instead of Toronto.   Is that really a bad thing if you are a Mariner fan?

The same thing is happening in the NL. The Phillies probably have a better chance of advancing if they lose and get the #6 seed WC to face the Cardinals, rather than the #5 seed WC to face the Mets. 

This will probably be a frequent quirk of the new playoff system. I haven't looked but I bet it is more common than not that the best WC team has a better record than the worst division winner.