HOUSTON — Scott Servais’ eyes weren’t on the field where the celebration was taking place but in the stands where the future awaited.
The Mariners manager had just watched his team win via a walkoff home run in June 2018, then turned his attention to a young Logan Gilbert, who was sitting with the fans near Seattle’s dugout.
The M’s had selected the right-handed pitcher 14th overall in the MLB draft a few days earlier. And as players basked in the moment, Servais communicated to Gilbert that his moment would come — telling the then-21-year-old (with some hand signals), “You will be out here in two years.”
“I knew he had to be a dude for us to ever get here,” said Servais, whose team will play Game 1 of its American League Division Series vs. the Houston Astros on Tuesday. “So why not start in that moment?”
Logan Gilbert is a dude. He’s a goatee-sporting, barefoot-walking, trinket-toting, meditating dude who can throw a fastball in the high 90s and make hitters second-guess their line of work with his secondary pitches. His 3.20 ERA this season was 10th-best in the AL, and he lowered that mark substantially by posting a 2.00 ERA over 36 innings in September.
On Tuesday, the second-year player will start against Astros ace Justin Verlander — the overwhelming favorite to win the AL Cy Young Award — in hopes of pouring more pixie dust on this enchanted Mariners season. Oddsmakers are anticipating a Houston win, but did they take into account that Gilbert has been anticipating this day his whole life?
“It’s a dream come true. I’ve watched these games since I was little. I grew up dreaming about these games, and now we are here,” Gilbert said. “It’s just really special. It’s something — just embrace it, take it all in for a second. It’s a big deal to be here.”
It is a big deal. And when the moment is biggest, that’s typically when you’ll find Gilbert dealing.
When the M’s were in a down-to-the-last-game playoff hunt in 2021, Logan put up a 2.70 ERA in September. And this year’s 2.00 September mark was highlighted by a one-run, eight-inning masterpiece against Oakland, which ended with catcher Cal Raleigh clinching a playoff berth for the M’s.
Servais said Gilbert’s prowess in pressure-filled situations isn’t a coincidence. It’s a byproduct of his preparation.
“And nobody prepares like this guy that I’ve been around,” the manager said.
Such preparation includes Gilbert walking foul pole to foul pole with no shoes or socks hours before the game. Or rocking a Bodyblade training device in the clubhouse. Or meditating in the middle of the outfield. Or channeling his alter ego, “Walter,” on the days he starts, morphing from the former 4.0 student at Stetson University to the maniacal competitor who managed 174 strikeouts in 185 2/3 innings this season.
Maybe Walter is even fiercer in the playoffs. During Gilbert’s news conference Monday, Mariners play-by-play broadcaster Dave Sims noticed Logan’s newly grown goatee.
Little more of a bad-assery look? Sims asked.
Responded a smiling Gilbert: “Big time.”
Here’s what not to like about the Mariners’ matchup Tuesday: They’re facing a 106-win team against which they’ve won just one road series since 2018 — a team that is putting perhaps the best pitcher in baseball on the mound in Verlander.
But here’s what to like: In Gilbert’s four starts against the Astros this season, he has given up seven runs in 25 innings (2.52 ERA) — and has never allowed more than three runs or pitched fewer than six innings.
“It’s not an easy matchup, so I don’t want to put it like that,” Gilbert said of his success against Houston. “But I think I’ve just been fortunate to have some good games this year, and hopefully keep that trend rolling.”
Anecdotes and facial hair might be a source of amusement when discussing Gilbert, but it’s his talent that has vaulted him into this position. And that talent manifests itself via a four-pitch combination of fastball, curveball, slider and change-up that has him living up to his first-round-draft-pick billing.
He’ll be the underdog Tuesday, but his recent track record suggests he won’t underwhelm.
“Game 1 in this environment against Verlander? No better guy for us,” Servais said of Gilbert. “Take it and run with it.”
Sounds like a plan. You gotta walk before you run, though.
Gilbert knows that much. He just chooses to do it barefoot.