Why Mariners are rooting for Josh Naylor’s wife, and Monday; latest on Bryan Woo

The Mariners are rooting for Josh Naylor’s wife. And for Monday.

Seattle set its roster for the American League Division Series Saturday hours before Game 1 against the Detroit Tigers at sold-out T-Mobile Park. It included Naylor. And he again was at first base and batting fourth in the Mariners’ lineup to begin the playoffs Saturday.

But he could be leaving them and the series at any moment.

That’s how babies work.

Naylor and his wife, singer-songwriter Chantel Collado, are expecting her to go into labor in Arizona any day, for the birth of their first child. The Mariners are prepared to put Naylor on Major League Baseball’s paternity list.

It works in the postseason the same it does in the regular season. A player can be gone one to three days. The Mariners will be able to replace Naylor with another player on the 26-man roster for the ALDS while he’s away. “I mean, it’s obviously a possibility,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said before Game 1. “And, you know, it’s something to think about for sure.

“You have to sort of weigh as much of this as you can, all the unexpecteds.” If Naylor’s wife were to go into labor Monday, that’s the travel day in this series. Naylor could be in Arizona for the birth, then perhaps be in Detroit by Tuesday afternoon in time to play in Game 3.

Naylor’s pending absence is why Wilson and his coaching staff had Eugenio Suarez, again the third baseman batting sixth in Seattle’s lineup on Saturday, working with infield coach Perry Hill at first base during a workout at the stadium Friday.

And it’s why the Mariners have included rookie on their ALDS roster rookie Ben Williamson, their third baseman for much of the season’s first half before Seattle traded for Naylor in late July.

When Naylor leaves, if his wife goes into labor during this series into next week, Suarez and Luke Raley are likely to play first base and Williamson or Leo Rivas third base against the Tigers.

“Yeah, ‘Gino’ played a little bit of first for us throughout September, once in a while had to go over there and fill in,” Wilson said of Suarez. “And I think in terms of being versatile, we talk about that a lot as one of our strengths, and his ability to be able to go over there maybe in a pinch is something that we always want to entertain. So his ability to do that in the scrimmage there just to get some reps over there was super helpful.

“So we don’t know what lies ahead. ...But his ability to go over there and to be able to have either Rivas or Benny at third base really helps too. So again, creating as many options, creating as much versatility as we can is really the point.”

While Naylor’s here, Wilson likes having Williamson’s elite glove and right-handed bat off his bench.

“It did play a factor,” Wilson said of Naylor and his wife’s situation and the Mariners’ ALDS roster, “but obviously having balance on your bench was big. And having Benny here was a big part of that.”

Bryan Woo not in ALDS

The Mariners left All-Star ace starter Bryan Woo off their ALDS roster.

His pectoral inflammation from two weeks ago has improved, Wilson said, but not enough to pitch in this series.

Woo said Thursday after he threw a simulated game during a team workout at T-Mobile Park he wasn’t where he wants to be physically to pitch. Not yet.

“I’m still not where I want to be in terms of game speed of everything,” Woo told reporters Thursday. “But in terms of how everything has progressed, I’m happy with it.

“Considering that a week ago, I wasn’t even throwing yet. And then a week from now hopefully we’ll be in a better spot.”

Woo, 25, hasn’t pitched since Sept. 19. He allowed one hit in five scoreless innings of Seattle’s 4-0 win at Houston that night. That helped finish off the Astros and propel the Mariners to the AL West for the first time since 2001.

The manager called Seattle leaving Woo off the roster this round “is the more cautious thing” to do.

“Obviously a tough decision, and one that we weighed very carefully,” Wilson said. “But we just felt like he had made strides as we had hoped and got to a place.

“But it just looked like it wasn’t going to be able to be in this series.”

The manager said the Mariners “hope” is if the team advances past Detroit in this best-of-five series Woo will be able to pitch in the AL Championship Series. That will begin Sunday, Oct. 12. The winner of Mariners-Tigers will play the winner of Blue Jays-Yankees, the other division series in the American League.

Game 3 starter?

Luis Castillo will start Game 2 for the Mariners Sunday, against Tigers ace Tarik Skubal from Seattle University.

And for Game 3 Tuesday in Detroit?

Wilson wasn’t saying Saturday.

“Our focus really is (Saturday), and we’re looking at that and trying to take it all in as we go, and ‘The Rock’ (Castillo) on the hill (Sunday). So those are the two that we’ve got at this moment.

“We’ll keep, you know, figuring it out as we go.” That was effectively evasive, to keep the Tigers guessing some.

But Logan Gilbert (6-6, 3.44 ERA this season) seems to be in line for that Game 3 start. He started twice against the Tigers this regular season, effectively, too. He allowed five runs, three earned, in 10 1/3 innings, with 19 strikeouts and three walks versus Detroit.