MLB Wild Card Mariners at Blue Jays Game 1 Betting Preview
Seattle Heading On the Road
We’ve got Seattle and Toronto squaring off in an interesting Mariners at Blue Jays game 1 betting matchup Friday afternoon at the Rogers Centre. Toronto was able to grab the top wild card spot in the A.L., and will have home field advantage in this best of three series.
Home field in the postseason gives Toronto an immediate edge, and oddsmakers agree making the Blue Jays -126 favorites. Seattle has some value at +108 considering they won the season series 5-2, including a four game home sweep from July 7th-10th. Toronto did take two of three at home against the M’s way back in May, but obviously both teams have evolved a lot in the last five months.
Mariners Have Been Home Awhile
Schedule makers did Seattle a solid by giving them 10 straight home games to close out the season, but in actuality that may hurt them a bit in the Mariners at Blue Jays game 1 betting matchup. It’s tough to win on the road in the postseason as it is, but even more when you haven’t had an away game in nearly two weeks.
Seattle did do a solid job of winning 7 of their last 9 to close out the year, but are just 3-7 in their last 10 on the road and have lost five of their last six away games against RH starters. Alek Manoah goes for the Blue Jays in game 1, pitching into the 8th against the Mariners on July 9th allowing just 2 ER in a 2-1 Seattle win. Carlos Santana homered off Manoah in that game in what was Seattle’s 7th straight win on a 13-game win streak.
Luis Castillo (8-6, 2.99 ERA) gets the ball for the Mariners, having not faced the Blue Jays since back in May when he went 6.0 IP giving up 2ER in a 2-1 loss when he was with the Reds. Seattle was 6-5 in Castillo’s 11 starts since acquiring him from Cincinnati, with Friday’s game one being just his second career postseason appearance.
Home Field Going to Do It For Toronto?
The Blue Jays were 47-34 at home this season but game one is going to have a completely different energy than regular season games at the Rogers Centre. We all remember the energy of the 2015 Jose Bautista ‘bat-flip’ home run against the Rangers and Edwin Encarnacion’s walk-off in 2016 so Toronto has seen some great postseason moments in the last decade.
Toronto lost both of their wild card games in St. Petersburg against the Rays in 2020, so this will be the first time since 2016 that the Rogers Centre has seen postseason baseball. Seattle had a 90-win season last year and still missed out on the playoffs, so this is the first time they have seen extra games since 2001.
Manoah (16-7, 2.24 ERA) makes his postseason debut on Friday afternoon, going 4-0 with a 0.88 ERA in September and 7-4 with a 2.42 ERA at home this season. Manoah has been dialed in down the stretch, allowing an ER or less in 7 of his last 8 starts.
Free Mariners at Blue Jays Game 1 Betting Pick
While it may be the first exposure to postseason baseball for Manoah, Seattle also hasn’t been here as a franchise in over two decades. The Toronto pitcher has been on fire down the stretch, and when you combine that with the Mariners going on the road for the first time since September 25th and into an absolutely insane atmosphere this one looks like it will go the Jays way rather easily.
Free Pick: Blue Jays -1.5 (+165)
