The Seattle Mariners rolled over the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series on Monday, blasting three more home runs. And while a home run-heavy approach can be frustrating at times, it's also proven to work in October.
I'll be 100 percent honest with you.
I like to think of myself, generally, as an old-school baseball fan. I appreciate a sacrifice bunt, even if I don't always call for them. I love a good stolen base, and I love a good-old manufactured run.
Over the course of a 162-game regular season, I sometimes get frustrated at "home run or bust" baseball, and I too will yell at the TV imploring teams to put the game in motion.
However, it cannot be denied that home runs win in the postseason, and the Seattle Mariners are just the latest example of that.
The M's hit three home runs on Monday in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series against the Toronto Blue Jays and they are now just two wins away from their first trip ever to the World Series. Julio Rodriguez and Jorge Polanco each hit three-run homers while Josh Naylor blasted a two-run shot. Eight of the 10 runs Seattle scored came via the home run.
And according to Sarah Langs of MLB.com, teams that out-homer their opponents are 18-4 in these playoffs. They were 23-8 a year ago.
We'd all love for the Mariners to have a true variance in how they score runs because when a home drought is present, you can find yourself on the fast track to the offseason, but the reality is this: In the playoffs, against elite starting pitching and extreme "bullpenning," it's just not realistic to think that a team is going to string together six hits in an inning to bust a game open.
The best way to score runs is by popping a single and hitting a two-run homer, or by walking, singling and hitting a three-run homer.
That requires just one or two big swings a game, rather than trusting yourself to bleed out 10 hits off the likes of Tarik Skubal or Shohei Ohtani or Kevin Gausman or Max Fried.
I'm reminded of something that ESPN broadcaster and former MLB announcer Doug Glanville told me in late-September on the 'Refuse to Lose' podcast:
It's (being home run happy) absolutely a positive if you can replicate it. Now, you don't have, necessarily, control of that, but there's no doubt the teams that out-homer, they are much more on the success ledger side of things. So you get the quick strike, you take back leads, you win at the end with one swing in the bat, you're facing these aces that you have to chain together five singles against? I mean you're not going to do that very often against Jacob deGrom or Tarik Skubal or whatever.
So Tarik Skubal's on the mound: You've got to think about like, let me just quick strike him. Get that three run homer and hope our bullpen holds. So it pays to have power. And the Mariners made great moves at the trade deadline to get Suarez. And then you look around like Polanco, incredible year, Arozarena, Rodriguez, oh, and then Cal Raleigh, by the way, you got a bunch of dudes with 30 home runs, 25 home runs. That is dangerous. And by the way, they can steal bases too.
You can listen to that full interview in the player below:
M's Exorcise Demons + Gabe Speier Joins + Former MLB OF Doug Glanville Stops By
Refuse to Lose - a Seattle Mariners Podcast · Episode
The ALCS will resume on Wednesday night in Seattle. First pitch is set for 5:08 p.m. PT.
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