George Kirby and Luis Castillo take on the beasts from the Midwest (in this case pronounced wee-st)
MLB has announced their planned schedule for the entirety of the American League Divisional Series, and the Seattle Mariners have set their starting pitchers for the first two games at home this weekend.
With three of the four AL clubs remaining in the Eastern Time Zone, it’s unsurprising to see games catered to their comfort, however the M’s do enjoy a degree of convenience in their home field advantage, earning the late games both Saturday and Sunday. However, both Game 3 and 4 (if needed in the case of the latter) line up as 1:08 PM PT starts, delivering a crushing blow to productivity in the PNW.
Seattle has settled on their preferred home-field options in this circumstance, handing RHP George Kirby the ball in Game One on Saturday, and veteran RHP Luis Castillo the nod in Game Two Sunday night. The Detroit Tigers have not yet committed to who will go Game One and Two, but the presumption is that some combination of RHPs Keider Montero or Chris Paddack and the Detroit bullpen will heavily handle it, followed by likely repeat Cy Young winner LHP Tarik Skubal in Game Two. Skubal has never started on three days rest, which would be needed to go on Saturday.
The orientation is not astonishing, but it wasn’t a sure thing. With Bryan Woo still mending, the M’s have given top billing to their most contact-prone and homer-susceptible pitchers in T-Mobile Park. It’s an understandable orientation, particularly as Ryan outlined Seattle’s significant home field advantage this morning. Kate will have quotes and some additional analysis here soon from/on Kirby specifically, and we’ve updated the series preview from Jake Mailhot accordingly.
Category: General Sports
