TORONTO — Matt Brash has pitched here at the Rogers Center before. Just not with the Mariners.
Brash grew up not far away in Kingston, Ontario, about 160 miles (260 km) northeast of Toronto. He rooted for the Blue Jays as a kid, attended games at Rogers Centre and even pitched here in high school while playing for Team Ontario in the Canada Cup tournament.
Of course, he said, he’ll have family and friends in attendance Friday afternoon when the Mariners open the American League Wild Card Series against the Blue Jays.
“There’s going to be a lot of emotions,” said Brash, the Mariners’ rookie right-hander. “But once the game comes and once I’m on the mound, I’m just zoned in. I don’t see anything else. I’ve just got a job to do.”
MLB wild-card series
Mariners at Blue Jays
Brash, 24, made the Mariners starting rotation out of spring training, but he was sent down to Triple-A Tacoma in May and converted to a reliever.
He has been sensational since joining the Mariners bullpen. He made his debut as a reliever against the Blue Jays in Seattle on July 9, pitching a scoreless inning with two strikeouts and earning the win.
As a reliever, Brash went 3-1 with a 2.35 ERA in 34 appearances.
He did not allow a home run after converting to a reliever, allowing just four extra-base hits in 30 1/3 innings and limiting opponents to a .202 batting average and a .548 OPS.
“It’s been a journey this year, and not one that I saw coming,” he said. “But I’ve really embraced this role. Being a reliever, I’ve come to really love it. Our bullpen is a great bullpen. We’ve got great guys and great pitchers, and it’s just been a lot of fun down there.”
Because the Blue Jays’ lineup is predominantly right-handed, Brash figures to be a key arm out of the bullpen in this series.
“I’m just really excited to feel what the playoffs are like and win some games for Seattle,” he said.
Homecoming for Toro, too
The other Canadian on the Mariners’ roster, utility man Abraham Toro, grew up in Longueuil, a Montreal suburb.
“The support I have from the people back home has been awesome,” Toro said. “It’s such a small community because we don’t have a lot of Canadian players in professional baseball.”
Toro is one of a handful of Mariners who has postseason experience. In his case, it’s limited experience; he was on the Astros’ rosters in 2019 and 2020, and finished with one walk in his only at-bat (during the 2020 playoffs).
Still, he has talked to teammates about not making the playoffs bigger than they need to be.
“In the postseason; everybody’s at zero,” Toro said. “It’s a brand-new season. Stats and all that don’t matter. But it’s also about, you don’t want to change too much. You want to stick with what works.”
Manoah ready for Blue Jays
Toronto will start 24-year-old ace Alek Manoah against the Mariners in Game 1.
A 6-foot-6, 285-pound right-hander, Manoah finished the season with a 16-7 record, a 2.24 ERA and 180 strikeouts in 196 2/3 innings.
In his one start against the Mariners this season, at T-Mobile Park on July 9, Manoah breezed through six shutout innings before Carlos Santana hit a two-run home run to lift the Mariners to a 2-1 victory.
This will be Manoah’s first playoff start.
“My high-school coach used to say pressure is something you put in your tires,” Manoah said Thursday. “This is just baseball. It’s just a game. Just got go out there, have some fun and leave the pressure for your tires.”