After an epic 15-inning victory over the Detroit Tigers in Game 5 of the ALDS, the Seattle Mariners advance to their first AL Championship Series since 2001. The club’s overworked pitching staff will likely get some major reinforcements, as M’s president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto told reporters (including Adam Jude of the Seattle Times) the right-handed one Bryan Woo is expected to be added to the Mariners roster for the next round.
Woo likely won’t pitch until closer to the midpoint of the series, Dipoto said. This means Woo will be in the starting lineup when the ALCS shifts to Seattle for Games 3-4 and (if necessary) 5. It also leaves open the question of who exactly will start for the Mariners in the first two games in Toronto, as the M’s used starters Logan Gilbert and Luis Castillo out of the bullpen during Friday night’s 15-inning marathon.
Castillo threw 15 pitches while Gilbert threw 34, so Castillo is probably still the favorite to be first on the bump in Game 1 on Sunday. Bryce Miller would be working on three days of rest if he were to start Game 1, so he’s a more plausible candidate for the second game against the Blue Jays unless Gilbert is ready to go. The Mariners could use Miller as a floating option for Game 1 or 2 behind Castillo and Gilbert, with George Kirby will likely start Game 3 and then make Woo his first start of the postseason in Game 4. This assumes Woo will be used in a normal starting capacity, and keeping him at bay until the middle of the series would give the right-hander more time to fully ramp up.
This is all speculative, of course, and the Mariners themselves may not have finalized their ALCS pitching plans yet, considering they needed so many weapons to outlast the Tigers. It’s an issue the M’s are happy with because it means their season is still underway, and it’s a testament to Seattle’s rotation depth that the team could advance even without its best pitcher from the 2025 season.
Bryan Woo has been sidelined since September 19
Woo posted a 2.94 ERA over 186 2/3 innings during the regular season, but he developed chest tightness during a September 19 start, forcing him out of the game after five shutout innings. Woo has not pitched since, although he was not on the 15-day injured list, and he was able to throw a bullpen session and a simulated inning prior to the start of the ALDS. Jude wrote before Game 5, Woo threw nearly 30 pitches during a bullpen session on Friday, and “seemed to be throwing at about 75 percent effort” before getting things going “closer to 100 percent” for the final few pitches of the session.
Seattle and Toronto don’t have to announce their ALCS rosters until Sunday, so we’ll get the final word on Woo’s involvement and whose spot he will take against the 26-man team. The move to a seven-game series likely means the Mariners will have an extra pitcher on board after fielding 14 position players and 12 pitchers in the ALDS, meaning a rookie as Ben Williamson or Harry Ford could be the odd one out.
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