SEATTLE — A single noise broke the silence in the visitors’ clubhouse. Every few minutes, the thud of a packed bag thrown onto a cart echoed in the room. The blue bags piled higher, destined for an airport. Thud. Silence. Thud. Silence.
That’s the sound of a bullpen blow-up.
Late losses break hearts. They hold a unique ability to demoralize. The feeling of victory evaporating is different from an early blowout. Those are the losses that fill a room with silence, somehow quieter than any other loss.
The Toronto Blue Jays battled their fair share of late losses this season — every team does. They’ve sat in many quiet clubhouses after leads slipped away. But none was more significant than Friday’s reliever ruin in Toronto’s Game 5 loss in the American League Championship Series, 6-2. Up 2-1 in the eighth inning, the Jays allowed two home runs and five late Seattle Mariners scores, replacing victory with defeat and celebration with questions. The team’s weakness flared when it mattered most, sliding the Jays down 3-2 in the series. It pushed them to the edge of elimination, with only one way back.
“I don’t want these guys to crawl into a hole,” manager John Schneider said. “That’s not who we are.”
Toronto’s bullpen was the club’s most visible vulnerability entering the postseason. The relief corps wasn’t a disaster — it finished the regular season ranked 15th in ERA. It was fine, good for stretches and bad for others. It didn’t hold the club back from winning 94 games, winning a division and earning a bye. But it was an inconsistent group that blew 23 saves. It was a group that caused tense jaws and nibbled fingernails.
That didn’t change in October. The relief corps has had moments, like a brilliant bullpen game to vanquish the New York Yankees in the Division Series. It finalized all five of Toronto’s postseason victories, as they pushed to within two wins of the World Series stage. But the vulnerability persists.
The Jays entered ALCS Game 5 with a 5.71 bullpen ERA, easily the worst of any remaining team. On Friday, that number pushed higher.
Brendon Little sat in the folding chair at his locker, scrolling through his phone. As a throng of cameras and microphones descended, Little stood and faced the lenses. It’s very rarely a good sign when a reliever stands amid a growing group of reporters. When they pitch well, their success often goes uncelebrated. When they allow game-tying home runs and walk two batters in a postseason loss, cameras descend. On Friday, Little bore that burden.
“Obviously it feels terrible,” Little said. “The team battled all game to put us in a position to win. Came in and really couldn’t have pitched worse.”
The decision to pitch Little will be nitpicked and questioned. That’s the magnifying glass of October. Little posted a 3.03 ERA this season, but allowed six baserunners in his previous three outings and struggled with command all year.
Blue Jays pitcher Brendon Little reacts after giving up a home run to Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh. (Stephen Brashear / Imagn)
Toronto turned to Little, hoping to give the top of Seattle’s order a different look, manager John Schneider said. That pocket hadn’t faced him since Game 1. The Jays, surely, valued the lefty’s strikeout potential and his ability to suppress homers. On Friday, though, Little delivered neither of those attributes. He allowed a game-tying homer to Cal Raleigh and walked the next two Mariners. Seranthony Domínguez entered, hit a batter and watched Eugenio Suárez essentially end the game with a grand slam.
“Everything gets magnified this time of year,” Schneider said. “Decisions get magnified, pitches get magnified. I get it. It is what it is.”
Perhaps the Jays could’ve gone to Domínguez right away. Perhaps Schneider could’ve turned to closer Jeff Hoffman, who said after the game he’s been staying ready for the top of Seattle’s lineup all series. But neither option would’ve guaranteed a win. Domínguez didn’t look sharp, and Hoffman allowed more home runs than any American League reliever this year. Maybe it was a mistake. But, more likely, Friday’s loss was a vulnerability manifesting.
“You look at our season,” Schneider said, “including the postseason. You want to limit walks, limit damage. (The Mariners are) built around home runs. Today they out-slugged us, for sure.”
As Little spoke to reporters at his locker, hands stuffed in his pockets, Max Scherzer slowly drifted out of the visitors’ clubhouse, turning toward the Seattle field. He paused at every newspaper on the hallway wall, soaking in the framed front pages celebrating previous World Series champions. He’d helped print two of those pages. He wants one more.
“Everybody’s had their fault at some point in the year,” Scherzer said. “And we’ve done a good job of rallying around them.”
The Jays are now tasked with two days of perfection. The room for error is gone, sitting one loss from the end. If Toronto wins twice at home, snatching a pair of victories, it will push on to the World Series.
On Friday, though, one of those wins seemed particularly close. The Jays sat six outs away, to be exact. They could’ve flown home resting nine innings from a pennant. Instead, after a bullpen blowup, they’re on the brink.
“It’d be nice,” Little said, “to be up 3-2 right now.”