In a different baseball galaxy, perhaps the one Cal Raleigh nearly scraped with his game-tying homer, Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider would draw praise and Seattle Mariners manager Dan Wilson scorn.

Instead, after Game 5 of the American League Championship Series, a 6-2 Mariners triumph that turned on Raleigh’s leadoff homer and Eugenio Suárez’s grand slam in the eighth inning, it’s the other way around.

Such is the beauty of baseball, especially in October, when every managerial decision is only as good as its outcome. Wrongheaded choices turn out well. Well-intended ones backfire. And fans are left to howl about the idiot in the dugout wrecking their otherwise perfect team.

The Mariners, leading three games to two, are one win away from their first World Series appearance as the ALCS heads back to Toronto. But until the eighth, Wilson seemed destined to be criticized for removing right-hander Bryce Miller after a leadoff single in the fifth. And Schneider seemed destined to be celebrated for sticking with righty Kevin Gausman against Raleigh, a hitter who was 9-for-19 with four homers against him, in the bottom half. Gausman retired Raleigh with a runner on base to end the threat.

By the eighth, the Jays were six outs away from needing only one win in two games at home to reach their first World Series since their back-to-back titles in 1992 and ‘93. And their 2-1 lead was attributable, at least in part, to Wilson’s decision-making.

Wilson removed Miller for righty Matt Brash, who allowed a two-out RBI double by George Springer. And he followed Brash with righty Bryan Woo, who was pitching for the first time since Sept. 19 due to a strained right pectoral muscle. Wilson had said he wanted to find a soft landing for Woo. So much for that: Woo entered Game 5 with the score 1-1, and proceeded to give up the go-ahead run.

Then it was Schneider’s turn for a critical decision, with the 2-3-4 hitters in Wilson’s revamped lineup — Raleigh, Jorge Polanco and Josh Naylor — due to bat in the eighth. Wilson made significant alterations for Game 5, shaking up things after the Mariners scored only six runs the previous two nights. Julio Rodríguez batted leadoff for only the second time since April. The struggling Randy Arozarena dropped to the No. 5 spot.

It was the first time all season Wilson tried this particular combination of players. And wouldn’t you know it? Raleigh and Suárez, the only hitters among the top six who remained in the same spots, wound up being the ones who etched their names in Seattle baseball lore.

But back to Schneider’s choice at the top of the eighth, after righty Louis Varland pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings in relief of Gausman. To protect a one-run lead in that situation, many postseason managers go straight to their closer against the opponents’ biggest threats, and perhaps even extend him for a six-out save. But the Jays’ closer, Jeff Hoffman, is less trustworthy than most closers. During the regular season, he allowed 15 homers, second among relievers only to Washington’s Jackson Rutledge.

Hoffman has fared well in the postseason, giving up one run — and no homers — in 4 1/3 innings. But he has yet to pitch in a close game. Schneider wanted to turn around Raleigh, a switch-hitter, by using a left-hander. Raleigh’s splits are fairly even, but he faced only righties in his first 20 plate appearances of the series.

Schneider’s logic wasn’t awful. Neither, in some ways, was his choice of Brendon Little, who to that point had allowed only one homer to a right-handed hitter in 162 plate appearances this season, including the playoffs. Little’s 30.8 percent strikeout rate during the regular season was also the best among the Jays’ relievers.

“Little’s been one of our best pitchers in big spots,” Schneider said. “Tough guy to elevate.”

True, but Little had been less dominant in the postseason, giving up a run in Game 3 of the Division Series against the New York Yankees, then throwing a wild pitch and allowing an inherited runner to score on an RBI single by Polanco in Game 1 of the ALCS.

If the Jays lose this series, Schneider likely will hear about his eighth-inning choices for a long time. He seemed to understand as much, saying, “Second-guessing is part of it.” But nothing makes a manager look worse than a bad bullpen. And the Jays’ bullpen has been a trouble spot all season.

Consider Schneider’s options. The Jays’ other main lefty reliever, Mason Fluharty, had pitched each of the previous two nights. A third, Eric Lauer, is a swingman, not a swing-and-miss, high-leverage type. Righty Chris Bassitt, coming off lower back inflammation, had pitched only once since Sept. 18, appearing in Game 2 of this series. Another righty, Seranthony Domínguez, later gave up the slam to Suárez.



So, why not Hoffman?

“Thought about that, for sure,” Schneider said. “Again, we’ve relied on every single guy on our roster to get a lot of wins this year. So, could have done that, and then you think about who do you want in the ninth inning, who do they have coming up.”

Hoffman had not made an appearance of more than one inning since April 30. Two teams, the Atlanta Braves and Baltimore Orioles, passed on him in free agency last offseason because of concerns about his shoulder. After signing a three-year, $33 million deal with the Jays, he was healthy all season. But he was inconsistent, too.

So, Little it was. And on a 2-0 sinker, Raleigh skied a ball with a 43-degree launch angle, matching the highest of his career. He wasn’t sure it would go out. He said if the roof at T-Mobile Park had been open, maybe the result would have been different. But the ball landed perhaps five feet beyond the left-field wall for his (gasp!) 64th homer.

Little then walked Polanco and Naylor before Schneider mercifully removed him at the three-batter minimum. Alas, Schneider’s next choice, Domínguez, hit Arozarena, who in his past 25 games was batting .158. Then came Suárez, and the home run that evoked a legendary postseason slam by the Mariners’ senior director of hitting strategy, Hall of Famer Edgar Martinez, in Game 4 of the 1995 ALDS against the Yankees.

Wilson, in his postgame interview, took six questions before getting asked about his choice to remove Miller. He talked about the eighth-inning rally. About the electric crowd. About the additions of Suárez and Naylor at the deadline. About Súarez’s even demeanor, even when he is struggling. About Naylor’s defense and about Woo.

Then, Miller.

“I thought Bryce was throwing the ball well,” Wilson said. “We had the ability with our bullpen (to remove him). We were not as rested as yesterday, but we had a good handle on what guys were able to do today. It was a situation where we wanted to keep it as close as possible at that point, and so going to Brash felt like the natural lift right there with the leadoff guy on.”

The move didn’t work out, but in the end it barely mattered. Wilson landed in the right baseball galaxy, Schneider the wrong one. It could have been the other way around. If not for the human beings with the bats and balls, it could have been a much different story.