Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Who Will Start ALDS Game 4 For the Seattle Mariners?! | Mailbag Monday

Starting point is 00:00:00 Following the Mariners game to win, you've got questions. We'll answer them coming up here on Mailbag Monday. Colby, hit it. You are Locked-on Mariners, your daily Seattle Mariners podcast, part of the Lockedon Podcast Network, your team every day. Ahoy, Sailors, it is Monday, October 6, 2025. This is Tadda Gazzalas and Colby Patnode for the Lockdown Merr's podcast, part of the Lockdown podcast network, your team every day.

Starting point is 00:00:33 This episode is brought to you by Fandul. right now new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you'll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Download the Fanduala app today. And as always, if you want to hear from me and Colby even more and help support the show, we have a Patreon called Control the Zone where we talk Mariners, Seahawks, and whatever else we want. For more information, go to patreon.com forward slash control the zone. Link in the description.

Starting point is 00:00:58 Let's open up the mailbag like we do here every Monday and answer some of your Mariners questions. Max kicks us off. here wanted to know what can a series like this do for Julio Rodriguez moving forward. He's always felt the pressure to be the guy in Seattle and now he's doing it in the playoffs. Do you think this can be a huge confidence boost for Julio? Julio doesn't seem like a guy who lacks confidence to me. Yeah. So I don't think it's really a confidence issue per se or it hasn't been.

Starting point is 00:01:27 We talked about this a little bit last night also. Do you look at Julio's numbers in what, you know, are classified as high leverage spots? he's actually pretty good. So it's really kind of an overstated thing that Julio struggles in the clutch moments and all that stuff. He really doesn't. There's no statistical backing. It really is just kind of like our memory is that he's failed in all these places. And we kind of forget, you know, like hitting the whole runoff of Kinley Janssen and the two times he got to Brayu this year.

Starting point is 00:01:56 And, you know, like we don't remember as many of those. We remember, you know, the times he grounded out to the shortstop. by swinging out of his shoes and popping the ball up and all that. So chasing the slider eight feet outside. So yeah, it's just like when he's bad in those spots, he's really, really bad. And obviously you're going to fail in those spots more often than you succeed because that's just baseball. But like it's just one of those things. I don't know if it's a confidence thing.

Starting point is 00:02:25 But it is maybe honestly, it might be more confidence inspiring from the fan base to kind of get off his back a little bit and start, you know, treating Huli. like the player that he is, not the player they think he has to be. And so, you know, I don't know what this does for Julio, but I think it does a lot for the fan base. I think it does a lot for the clubhouse that he's like been that guy in these games. And, you know, it really is just about building something so that other people believe in you as much as you believe in yourself. I don't think Julio lack confidence in those spots. Maybe I'm wrong.

Starting point is 00:03:00 Again, I've never talked to the guy. I don't know. he'll never admit it anyways, one way or another. But yeah, it obviously means something. But I don't know if this drastically changes anything for Julio going forward about himself. Maybe it changes the way we perceive him, us, you know, the fans and all that, perceived him in these moments as a guy who doesn't always choke, doesn't always, you know, when he needs, when you need them.

Starting point is 00:03:25 Maybe that's the real change. But I can't tell you what it does for him personally because I don't know the guy personally. Yeah, I think that's a great point. I guess from Julio's point of view, like, I think it is fair to assume that he's, he's heard it all from, you know, people like us. But there's also going to be times where, you know, he doesn't come through. And that's okay, because that's just baseball, right? That's just going to happen. He's going to get God at times.

Starting point is 00:03:56 But yeah, I think, you know, maybe from his perspective, it does help a little bit. I think in general, though, maybe it's just a weight off of his shoulders, because again, he's probably heard it. And now he's actually done it. Now, you know, like, there really aren't any more boxes for him to check off in that specific regard, right? So, yeah, I don't know. Maybe getting that weight off of his shoulders helps a little bit. But overall, like, I think you made a great point that it's more so on the fan side of things. and specifically that group of Mariners fans that have been so heavily critical of Julio that now it's like,

Starting point is 00:04:35 okay, he's done it, right? And he's had a great start to the playoffs. Like, what's the complaint now? Right. Dumber wants to know, would you feel comfortable running Kirby out again game four on Wednesday? It would be on four days rest. Would you, would your answer change depending on the outcome of Tuesday's game? I think Kirby would be pitching on three days.

Starting point is 00:04:57 Sunday, today, game three. And so he would pitch on that day, that would only be three days rest. Right. Yeah. So no, if it was four days rest, like that's the normal schedule, guys. Like, you get four days off, you pitch on the fifth day. This would be you get three days off, you pitch on the fourth day. That's a day less.

Starting point is 00:05:17 So, yeah, the math's wrong. But I think the spirit of the question is still the same is that basically would you do short rest with Kirby? No, I don't think so. I mean, obviously not the full workload. I don't think you can do that. Because, you know, also we need to remember Kirby missed the first, what, couple months, first month and a half or whatever of this season with, what was it, an elbow? Shoulder, shoulder.

Starting point is 00:05:44 I get him and I get him and Logan mixed up. Yeah, Logan was the elbow. Yeah. So like, how much is that weigh in on, you know, George Kirby? And it probably has something to do with the significant drop. his arm slot this year as well. And so I don't think they're going to push long-term, you know, health off the table. And if you're asking a guy to do something he's never done before, that's a risk. So it is, you know, kind of having to weigh this whole idea of like, well,

Starting point is 00:06:12 there is no tomorrow. You need to win tonight versus like, well, yeah, but if we put George out there on short rest with, you know, a shoulder that we're worried about and something goes wrong, we might lose them for the rest of, you know, next year, all of next year or something like that. So it really is a tough, you know, tough thing you need to maneuver here. It's one of the few things that would make a rain out on Tuesday good is that you could just start Kirby in Game 4 if you wanted to. But right now you'd be starting him on short rest. I think if I think it's possible to use them out of the bullpen if game 4. or either you win game two and you can clinch on or you win game three and you can

Starting point is 00:06:55 clench on game four and you can kind of play it by ear and be like okay well this game's training in the right direction let's go to Kirby now or you lose game three and then you have to win on game four at which point I think Kirby probably has to be at least somewhat available for I don't know how many pitches 30 40 pitches out of the bullpen so to me to me that doesn't change things if you win game three or you lose game three I think my plan is the same because if you win game three, I'd want to win game four and not have to beat scoble a fourth time. Right.

Starting point is 00:07:29 Yeah. So by the way, if you win game three, could you be in a position where the tigers might ask scubel to pitch on three days rest and not, and then not have him for game five because then they won't have, you know, because if the tigers win, then there's really no reason for them to use scubal in game four. Well, but if they lose, then maybe they're having the same conversation. happen about like yeah if scoble goes game four then maybe that that changes things a little bit for me but uh right now i think where i'm at is kirby and bryce miller piggyback whether that's

Starting point is 00:08:05 miller starts and then kirby comes in after or kirby starts and miller comes in after either way like if you could get three from each of those guys or five combined between those two guys i think that's ideal i mean it's not ideal but like of the options that I have available to me I think that's the the best way to go about it that's the one that I feel most comfortable with yeah and that leaves castillo is your only option for game five which again if if you're especially if you're down two games to one and game four who cares about game five you worry about that if you get there um so yeah i think it changes a little bit uh but I think either way it changes it's still there's a good

Starting point is 00:08:51 point to be made like should he pitching game four well yeah because we want to avoid scoble in game five or like yeah because we have to have him so we can get to a game five and try to beat scoble again like so i i think either way there's a good case to be made for kirby pitching on short rest but again the the injury is something that we have to take into account in the meritors they really don't push injured guys or guys who are hurting to do things that they don't feel comfortable that they can do and we don't know if kirby can do it. it or not. We don't know. We also don't know if he's like fully healthy or not. Like he might be. He might be now. And you know, like I mentioned what on Thursday or Friday, like he is well below his

Starting point is 00:09:33 career high innings. So he is in theory fresher than he typically would be at this point in a year. But he's never pitched on three days rest before. Like I said, I think on three days rest, what could you reasonably ask him to do? I don't know. Is it 40 people? pitches is it 50 i i don't know you know and so that's kind of the part of the the issue yeah but i think it's something you have to consider yeah i mean like if you can get five combined between him and bryce it's probably bryce throwing three and george throwing two right and george throwing two right and george throwing two doesn't have to happen right after bryce throws his three like you go bryce for three and then you know bazaar and then you know kirby to fur two and then it's

Starting point is 00:10:20 Brash and Munois. So, yeah, it's not like you actually have to piggyback them. It's just that Miller's probably the bulk guy and Kirby is like going to get the second most amount of outs, you hope. Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, I think you have to consider something like that pretty heavily. And again, that might be another reason why we didn't see Bryce in the 11th inning there in game one. So we'll see. I have to assume the plan is for Bryce to start game four.

Starting point is 00:10:46 As for whether or not that just is an opener or the bulk guy or whatever. My assumption is that Bryce is in the plans to be a major part of game four. Would you consider using Caleb Ferguson as the opener in game four? Yeah, I thought about that. Because either you get those two lefties to face a lefty to start the game, or you force Hinch to kind of maneuver his lineup around to push them further back in the lineup up so that they could face a righty the first time up. But now they're getting fewer opportunities as the game plays out because instead of

Starting point is 00:11:24 hitting two and three, they're hitting five and six. So yes, I do think that, you know, starting Ferguson as an opener could be in play on Thursday as well. Probably not Spire, but Ferguson, yeah, I could see that. Wednesday. But maybe Thursday of the, you know, if the game gets rained out tomorrow. Yeah. Which.

Starting point is 00:11:47 Yeah. So we'll see. I mean, like, I wouldn't entertain Spire as the opener because I don't want to burn Spire that early on in the game. But maybe, maybe, maybe Ferguson. Yeah. So we'll see. But they have, they have some options here. They have some ways that they can get creative with it.

Starting point is 00:12:08 But right now, I think George Kirby has to pitch to some degree in game four. He just has to. All right. We got a few more of your questions here to go over in just a moment. but first a reminder of this episode of the lockdown airs podcast is once again brought to you by fanduel. The NFL season is here and fanduel is making sure you're ready for kickoff with a can't miss offer. Right now, new customers can bet just $5 and if you bet wins, you'll get $300 and bonus bets to use across the app. Fan dual makes every game more exciting whether you're watching your team or just keeping an eye on your fantasy lineup.

Starting point is 00:12:42 It's quick, easy, and the best way to add a little more energy to Sundays. So are you ready to play? Download the Fanduil app now by visiting Fanduil.com to get started. That's Fandual.com to place your first $5 bet. And you're listening to the Lockdown Merrers podcast for instant reactions following every Mariners playoff game. Be sure to tune into the Marys postcast with Anderson Hurst and Christopher Crawford

Starting point is 00:13:05 available on both the Lockdown Marys YouTube and podcast feeds. It's Mailbag Monday. Let's get back into your questions. Deepakey wants to know, outside of two home games versus the Rockies, Gino is 0 for 52 with 26 strikeouts and four walks at home in September and October. Thoughts on why he has been so dreadful at home, confidence level on him turning around on the road. Gino's never been very good at Team Mobile Park. Yeah, but this is like the extreme.

Starting point is 00:13:34 Right, right. But also we know that Gino's never been this bad anywhere for this long. So like it is one of those things where it's like this is the extreme. version of it, sure. But also, you don't have a better option. Like, you're not going to sit here and tell me you'd rather have Ben Williamson getting these at bats.

Starting point is 00:13:55 Like that, no, that's not a thing. Leo Rebos, yes. I mean, like, look, Jake Lamb is not walking through that door.

Starting point is 00:14:02 Okay? Like, you kind of have to throw back to the OGs. Yeah. You kind of have to roll with it. And, you know, because we know that he is fully capable of flipping the other direction.

Starting point is 00:14:13 And right now, you know, hitting sixth, is fine. I probably would have Canzone hit ahead of him. Like I think Gino shouldn't be hitting higher than seven. But like because of the upside and because of the rest of the lineup around him, you feel okay about Gino going out there.

Starting point is 00:14:30 But he's never been particularly good at Team Mobile Park. Again, never this bad, but never really that good. Which is part of the reason why the Mariners traded him, not the biggest reason. We know why the Mariners traded him the first time. We know the biggest reason why. Yeah, yeah. but yeah, one of the factors was that the bat was slowing down a little bit, and he wasn't hitting well at Team Mobile Park,

Starting point is 00:14:51 and you play half your games there, so blah, blah, blah. So, like, we knew that this was a strong possibility. Gino's not a great fit for Team Mobile. He's really not. But, you know, you only play half your games there, and you're going out on the road here in Camerica. And, yeah, am I confident you can turn it around? Not really, because I don't think it's just solely a home road thing.

Starting point is 00:15:13 But does it help? Yeah. I mean, it almost certainly helps because numbers don't lie. He's been better away from Team Mobile Park than he's been at Team Mobile Park. So yeah, yeah, I don't know why it's happening to this degree. I don't know. Like, I wish I can answer that for you. I can't.

Starting point is 00:15:29 Am I confident it'll turn it around? No, not really. Is there a better option that the Mariners should be exploring? No, not really. Like, it just, it kind of is what it is. And you're hoping that he catches fire at a certain time. And it's something he's fully. capable of doing so it's honestly not that bad of a bet to take if you're

Starting point is 00:15:49 Seattle yeah uh I would say this that Gino's we know what Gino's upside is and that's why you keep them in the lineup you keep them because like teams know that like if I make a mistake to him he's going to hit it 500 feet simple as that right so there's always that danger even when he's struggling even when he is over 52 outside of a couple of games against So Rocky is like there's always that danger lingering for other teams.

Starting point is 00:16:19 They have to worry about Gino Suarez. They have to respect them. Right. You saw how careful they were pitching to him last night. Yeah. He's been terrible for a month and they still have to really be on the edges and, you know, really be conscious about what they're throwing and where they're throwing. And Gino worked a couple of counts last night.

Starting point is 00:16:36 So like he's still a dangerous bat even though he's not hitting at all. And that is something that works into the fatigue of going through this lineup. On the road, he's actually been. really good since coming over to the merits he's hitting 280 33591 that's a 152 w rc plus i think that gino is going to have a big moment during the playoffs at some point whether it's in this series or hopefully after they advance uh yeah i mean look gno's gonna strike out a lot we know what the issues are we know what the pitfalls are of gino we know what the upside is of gino it really doesn't matter about confidence level or anything like that to me

Starting point is 00:17:15 really it's just like we know who he is and you know sometimes he's going to hit a ball a billion feet and a lot of times he's going to go for four with three strikeouts just the the life of having genos war is on your team and he's your six whole hitter so most nights so whatever it's not as long as your whole team isn't made of gino sweres you'll be fine yeah next question here from ben can you discuss the blue jays a little how do you see a possible a lcs series with them going. Gossmann, Beaver, Scherzer, and now you're Savage, that's a bit of a problem. You want to try and get into that bullpen, but if, you know, there are already a team that

Starting point is 00:17:54 creates problems for this specific rotation. Specifically, they're a bad matchup for Logan Gilbert and how much they just annoy opposing pitchers and put the ball in play a lot and just don't strike out on top of that. If they're going to start hitting home runs, that's going to be a tough test. That's definitely a team right now, especially after, you know, the way the last couple of games have gone that I think can legitimate in the World Series. So yeah, that would be a tough matchup. But hey,

Starting point is 00:18:21 let's win this series first before we worry about anything else down the road. The shame on both of you for discussing it that much. All right. We'll answer more of your questions here in just a moment, but first a reminder of this episode of the Locktime Airs podcast

Starting point is 00:18:37 is brought to you by Monarch Money. Most people can't name all their financial accounts or even what they're worth, whether it's 401Ks, properties, or investments. And when you don't have the full picture, you can end up leaving money on the table. That's why there's Monarch money.

Starting point is 00:18:54 It's an all-on-one personal finance tool that brings your entire financial life together in one clean, easy-to-use interface on your laptop or your phone. Monarch is built for people with busy lives. And if you put off organizing your finances, Monarch is for you. Monarch does a heavy lifting for you.

Starting point is 00:19:11 You can link all your accounts in minutes, see clear data visuals, get smart categorization of your spending, and finally feel in control of your money without ever touching a spreadsheet. Don't let financial opportunities slip through the cracks. Use the promo code locked on MLB at monarchmoney.com in your browser for half off your first year. That's 50% off your first year at monarchmoney.com with promo code LOC, KED, O N, MLB. And you're listening to the Lockdown Merritt's podcast.

Starting point is 00:19:43 This mailbag Monday, got a couple more of your questions to answer. Casey wants to know Should the mares have pinch hit Dom Canzone For Gino and his last at bat Then put Ben Williamson at third In the bottom of the ninth No, because Finnegan had already faced his minimum So they just would have gone to Hurtr

Starting point is 00:19:58 A batter earlier Now obviously like Canzone against Lefties Has been fine for the most part Since he's come back up But no, I'd rather have Gino face Finnegan in that situation Then Canzone against Heter So no, it just

Starting point is 00:20:15 you know, it didn't work out. And again, like, Gino's really struggled at home and all that stuff. But still, I'd rather just go with the upside of Gino potentially hitting, what, a three-run bomb in that situation, making it six to two. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, heck, even a sacrifice fly probably inside game. Yeah. Well, technically, Julio's double into the game.

Starting point is 00:20:37 Yeah, right. But you get what I'm saying. But, yeah, no, I mean, nope. I think that's fine. I think the bigger question is, is why the heck. is Gino playing defense in the bottom of the ninth, like when you have Ben Williamson. And I get it. The whole point is that, oh, well, when neither goes on paternity, then Williamson's going to start

Starting point is 00:20:55 at third and Gina's going to start. Like, cool, but that's not the only time you can use Ben Williamson. You know what a great time to use Ben Williamson is when you're up by one in the ninth inning and Gino's just had his last step out of the night. Yeah. That's a great time to use Ben Williamson. So, yeah, I don't know what he's doing here if you're not going to use him in those exact spots. They should have used them last

Starting point is 00:21:17 on Saturday after Gino's last at bat. Put them out there at third. Like you need your best defensive team out there. And the Mariners, I don't know if you guys knows or not, not a good defensive team. Final question of the day comes from Zach, assuming Nailer plays the

Starting point is 00:21:33 whole series should Rayleigh get a start versus Flaherty or Mize or should they keep rolling with Robles? I'm going with run prevention here. And look, it's not like Rayleigh's bad out there. like I trust in the outfield but he's just not. Robles is better.

Starting point is 00:21:49 Robles is a center field or playing right field. Yeah. Yeah. Canzone is or sorry, Rayleigh is a capable corner off you like he's better than Randy or Rosarena defensively by a mile. But he's not better than Robles. So yeah, because neither guy is hitting right now,

Starting point is 00:22:06 I'll go with the glove. Yeah, absolutely. All right. So here's what you can expect on the show the rest of the week. I mean, we're going to have to kind of play it by ear based on how long the series goes and all that. And, you know, if tomorrow gets rained out.

Starting point is 00:22:23 I figure they'll probably play the game at some point tomorrow. I know it's 85% chance of rain, but the game is supposed to start at what, 1 o'clock Pacific time. So Detroit's on Central time, right? So that would be 3 o'clock. So that would be 3 o'clock local time. Yeah, so there's a lot of time for the rain to, you know,

Starting point is 00:22:42 kind of, I mean, maybe if it's an all day thing, I don't know what exactly the forecast is. But I figure the game will get played. If it doesn't, we might just not wind up doing a show tomorrow. If it does, though, we'll do a postgame show. Obviously, Chris and Anders will have you covered on the postcast, but we'll do what we did on the weekend. Same thing on Wednesday for that game.

Starting point is 00:23:06 If there is a game on Thursday, if everything has to get pushed back a day, then we'll do a post game show after that. If not, hopefully we're talking about a series win. on Thursday and, you know, Friday we're, we're previewing the ALCS. Um, if not,

Starting point is 00:23:20 you know, we're talking about a game five, hopefully or, you know, we're putting the season to rest. Oh, season plans. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:23:27 Like there's, there's just so many possibilities here. So again, uh, post game shows after every single game, like on the weekend. That's not changing. Uh,

Starting point is 00:23:38 and, uh, you know, we'll just play by year for the rest, depending on what the results are of these games. and what the fallout ultimately is of this series. So all right. That is going to do it for our show.

Starting point is 00:23:52 Thank you so much for joining us here on the Lockdown Marrars podcast for Colby Patnode. I'm Tedding Gonzalez. Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at L.O underscore Mariners. You can follow me at Tading Gonzalez and Colby at C-Pat 11. That's C-PAT-1-1. We're also on Blue Sky. You can follow me at TD, Colby at MLB. Colby in the show at Lockdown Mariners.

Starting point is 00:24:07 You can also find us on Instagram at Lockdown Mariners. Have yourself a beautiful baseball day. We'll see you next time. Peace. Thank you.

Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Who Will Start ALDS Game 4 For the Seattle Mariners?! | Mailbag Monday

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.