The Seattle Mariners are one of four teams in major league history to have never won a World Series championship. In fact, they've never even represented the American League in the Fall Classic, but with the way their play has been in the American League Championship Series, their first trip could be a cake walk.
The first two games in the Rogers Centre in Toronto have been all Seattle, with the Mariners taking Game 1 3-1 thanks to a home run by Cal Raleigh (because of course) as well as two runs batted in during the later stages by Jorge Polanco, and Game 2 again saw the AL West champions run away with the game in the latter innings, this time in a 10-3 victory.
It's clear that with all of these late issues that there is one issue plaguing the Toronto Blue Jays: their bullpen.
Bullpen Brutality in Toronto
In Game 1 of the ALCS, the Blue Jays threw ace Kevin Gausman, and through 5.2 innings, minus the home run surrendered to Raleigh, and walking the go-ahead run aboard in Julio Rodriguez, he did just fine.
Brendon Little was then brought on, and after running a full count on Polanco, gave up the go-ahead run as J-Rod came around to score, and the Jays would later use up four additional arms out of the pen in the 3-1 loss, Toronto's only run support coming in the form of a George Springer solo homer in the bottom of the first.
Game 2 wasn't entirely the bullpen's fault, as starting pitcher Trey Yesavage allowed five earned runs to cross the plate during his four-inning outing, and then the four arms used in relief each gave up at least one earned run, forcing Blue Jays manager John Schneider to throw starting pitchers Chris Bassitt and Eric Lauer to get them through the rest of the game.
Toronto has also gone a long stretch without hoisting the Commissioner's Trophy, not since Joe Carter's historic walk-off homer in Game 6 of the 1993 World Series to give the Jays their second straight title, and if the bullpen keeps up this kind of production, especially against a lineup like the one that Seattle possesses, they'll be needing to wait at least another year longer.