What was a formality has just been confirmed by the organization: Alek Manoah will be on the mound on Friday for the first game of the playoffs.
He will face Luis Castillo at the Mariners.
The pitcher of the month for September in the American (0.88 average in 41 innings pitched) was the best pitcher of his team this year. In his first full season in major league baseball, he is expected to finish in the top-5 in voting for the Cy Young.
To prepare, he will watch the Edwin Encarnacion circuit in 2016 against Baltimore, a question of getting a little bit crunchy.
We can expect to see Kevin Gausman take on Robbie Ray on Saturday. Obviously, Gausman is the one who replaced Ray in Toronto in 2022 after the Cy Young winner left last winter.
But who will be the potential third starter? To me, it must be Ross Stripling.
In Seattle, we can think that Logan Gilbert (I would bet on him) or George Kirby will be the lucky ones. At least that would be very logical.
I can’t wait for the playoffs to start. We will thus be able to see the big ball and with the matches wild cards which are more numerous than before, we will get our money’s worth.
- Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Santiago Espinal are going to practice in Toronto.
- The guys are looking forward to the playoffs.
