HOUSTON — Manager Scott Servais has said throughout this season, and especially in these playoffs, that each game typically comes down to two or three at-bats. Sometimes, they’re more obvious to pinpoint while others become clearer in retrospect.
Those opportunities surfaced on Thursday at Minute Maid Park, the margin between success and failure slim, and while the Mariners fought and clawed all afternoon and rode another brilliant outing from prized acquisition Luis Castillo, they ultimately came up short in two or three moments that, had things gone the other way, might not have yielded a 4-2 loss to the Astros.
This best-of-five American League Division Series has been far more tense and close than the series standings would indicate, but that doesn’t change the fact that the Mariners are on the brink of elimination.
The first postseason game in Seattle in 21 years is on Saturday, a reason for fans in the Pacific Northwest to rejoice. It will be one of the most electric environments in these playoffs — but lurking over that jubilation will be the possibility of it being the Mariners’ final game of the season. Making matters sting even more is that a loss on their home field Saturday would yield a sweep to the team their distaste for is as palpable as it is unspoken.
The Mariners are showing that they belong in this postseason, going blow for blow with the 106-win juggernauts. But in the first two games at Minute Maid Park, they lacked the knockout punch.
In the history of best-of-five postseason series, teams to take a 2-0 lead have gone on to win the series 77 of 87 times (89%). (Of the 10 teams to come back, the most recent was the 2017 Yankees against Cleveland). In Division Series with the current 2-2-1 format, teams winning both Games 1 and 2 in their home ballparks have advanced 30 of 33 times (91%), with 19 finishing off the sweep in Game 3.
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