Right-hander Bryan Woo won’t be part of the Mariners’ AL Division Series roster, according to the Seattle Times’ Adam Jude. “The club is optimistic Woo will be available in the ALCS if they do advance,” Jude writes, though Seattle’s path to the next round will be trickier without their most consistent pitcher from the 2025 season.
Woo’s postseason status has been a question mark since September 19, when the righty left a start after five innings due to pectoral tightness. The M’s didn’t place Woo on the 15-day injured list, which was viewed as a sign that the injury wasn’t overly serious, and that the team was just being cautious in shutting Woo down in advance of what became an increasingly likely playoff berth in the final stretch of September. The fact that the Mariners won the AL West and secured a first-round bye only added to the hope that Woo would be ready once the postseason got underway.
A Thursday bullpen session and a simulated inning marked the first time Woo had thrown off a mound since his injury. Despite initial reports that the bullpen went well, it could be that Woo felt some discomfort the day after his throwing sessions, or perhaps he simply wasn’t close enough to 100 percent for the Mariners to pull the trigger on a roster spot.
More details should become available when manager Dan Wilson speaks with reporters later today, but the bottom line is that the Mariners’ rotation is missing a very important arm. In a season when the usually excellent Seattle pitching staff was more solid than great, Woo took a step forward to lead the pitchers in fWAR (3.6), innings (186 2/3), and ERA (2.94). Woo augmented those numbers with a 4.5% walk rate that ranked among baseball’s best, as well as a very strong 27.1% strikeout rate.
These numbers came on the heels of a very good 2024 season for Woo that was marred only by injuries, as a pair of IL stints limited him to 121 1/3 innings. The full and healthy version of Woo made his first All-Star team in 2025 and established himself as another important frontline piece of the Mariners’ deep rotation, though this pec injury now threatens to bring a sour ending to this breakout campaign.
George Kirby will be the Mariners’ Game 1 starter today, and Luis Castillo will start Game 2. The club hasn’t announced their Game 3 starter once the series shifts to Detroit for at least once game, though Logan Gilbert seems like the logical choice. If a Game 4 is necessary, Bryce Miller will likely start, though it’ll probably be an all-hands-on-deck situation if the Mariners are facing elimination (or if they want to throw everything to try and eliminate the Tigers in four games, with an off-day to rest up the staff before a Game 5 in Seattle).
The Mariners’ full ALDS roster will be announced later today, but Jude reports that rookie catcher Harry Ford and rookie infielder Ben Williamson have made the cut. Williamson’s presence gives Seattle some depth at third base if Eugenio Suarez has to move to first base. Josh Naylor’s availability for the series beyond Game 1 is in question due to an impending paternity leave, as Naylor’s wife Chantel is on the verge of giving birth to the couple’s first child.
Woo- pps.
While this is bad news, it was kinda expected. Gonna have to beat Skubal for a third time this season. Big task, but no one else scares me on the kitties.
Hopefully they get it done so they don’t have to face him twice
We did have a lot of success against him but playoff skubal is different than regular season skubal
Oof, I hope the M’s can still do well without Woo. I really hope.
It helps that they’ll be facing a team that had a near all time collapse in the regular season and then struggled tooth and nail in round one to survive the almighty behemoth out of Cleveland.
They coughed up the largest lead in the standings of all time. Not “near all time”. All time.
For me, a true all time collapse would include falling out of the playoffs. While it may have been the largest lost lead, they still made it in.
You mean like the Mets!
And Cleveland is setting up tee times. That is baseball at its finest. Weird things happen every year.
Tigers will continue to write defiant baseball history with just enough offense and beat the M’s in 4 games.
How about M’s in 4 games?
Thats why we have to play the game. My heart is with the Tigers, but absent that I would like to see a Mariners-Brewers World Series.
Im rooting for the Mariners but past that would like to see a Tigers-Brewers World Series.
Yup, two teams who have never won a world series would be awesome!
Two teams that haven’t won a title facing off, I’d have a mountain of popcorn prepared for that!
Mariners vs Brewers World Series would be freaking awesome!!
The old Seattle Pilots vs the new Seattle Mariners would be an awesome series. As one that has seen both teams in person is more of a draw.
I never liked Selig for the under the table crap he pulled. He wanted a team in Mill but MLB wanted it in Seattle. The team was supposed to come 2-3 years later. When we would have a new stadium built. Selig forced them to an earlier time. Sicks was a great HS and minor league park. Not close to an MLB Park. After the first year there were enough complaints Selig got his team. Nothing against the Brewers not their fault.
This is the opposite of OKC and the slime involved in taking the Sonics. Lie after lie and the fans were asses. Anyway to this old guy would be a fun series. Might have to get a Pilots tee if it happens.
MLB and a national TV audience would hate that! See the ratings for Rangers vs D-backs for reference. Least watched series of all time.
But for us fans, it would be fun!
For the least amount of baseball fans that would be “fun”.
From Woo Hoo….to Boo Hoo (Who)
Naylor has been head first in the nursery. Wish it would happen today so he could get his head in the game. All of us who have had kids should remember those days. You were excited by scared. Then she pops and the kid has 10 toes and 8 fingers. You are happy he/she is in good health. Naylor needs to get that baby out. He should fly home get his women to the hospital and have a C section. Get it out so he could focus on the upcoming games.
The Mariners should have plenty of pitching to get past the Tigers. It is a bummer. You want to go into the LDS at full strength. Luckily, they drew the Tigers this round. I don’t understand the seeding in this tournament at all. Why did the 2 seed (the Mariners) get the worse WC team when the 1 seed (Blue Jays) must play the first WC team?? It doesn’t make sense to me.
Because the 1 seed plays the winner of the series with 2 wild card teams while the 2 seed gets the winner of the series with the 3rd division winner. In theory, a division winner is expected to beat a wildcard team and in theory, a division winner should be better then a wildcard team, therefore, entering round two, the 2 seed ‘should’ have the tougher opponent.
Often times, though, that isn’t the case.
Yeah, like this time! The Yankees have the best record in the AL (tied with Blue Jays). It seems to me that the Blue Jays got hosed. You shouldn’t get rewarded with a higher seed because you play in a terrible division. The NBA has it right in this case. Every team is playing the same teams the same amount of times and playing for the same six playoff spots. Records should determine seeding.
1 seed plays winner of 4/5, 2 seeds plays winner of 3/6. If top seed wins every matchup, it lines 1 seed up the lower seed. Just so happens that 6 seed beat 3 seed. Most tournament brackets work this way, unless they reseed after rounds, which is not standard.
I get it. I just don’t get why winning a terrible division with a worse record nets you a higher seed in the playoffs. The Guardians finished a game behind Boston and six games behind the Blue Jays and Yankees…making them the third seed with the fifth-best record? The goal should be to have the two best teams in the ALCS. Winning games should matter.
Seedlings are set from the get go and not reset for the LDS round. I prefer not resetting seedings.
To be honest 1 seed should take the lowest seed always instead of taking a certain wild card series’s winner
Ms have plenty of pitching. What concerns me is the bats being cold after a week layoff.
And probably down Naylor for one of the first two games for paternity leave. Hopefully they aren’t losing by 1 run.
Cooked
No Woo? Big boo…
The baby Naylor news is out of the blue. I hope that doesn’t bite us in this series, but it’s great that he gets to be there for his family.
Kind of wild to take that leave during the playoffs isn’t it? Not like the baby is going to remember…
Baby won’t remember but mom will.
I think his wife would understand if he waits until after game 2, it’s like 2 days 🙄
Guessing the team has been prepared for it for some time even though the fans are just hearing about it.
For a guy into every detail on the baseball field, it’s too bad he couldn’t read a calendar 9 months ahead.
Richard Sherman almost missed the Patriots Super Bowl because he couldn’t plan 9 months ahead.
Last – for some, the creation of life and family is more important than any job or game. Sure, fans don’t like it but probably not the best loin blaming a guy for “not planning” when well, maybe it was more important to him and even maybe, it was a little surprise / earlier than desired timing.
Oops – that was for Seacaptain.
Sorry, I changed my name just then.
As a Mariners fan, I do appreciate his wife’s desire to have a little Josh Naylor. Don’t we all wish we could.
I’d like to have the big one back at 1b for SD on 2026!
Pulling for Seattle.
I’m sure he keeps saying “hold it in, baby, hold it in!”
Of course she says “I want it out, damnit! I want it out!”
If skubal pitches 2 games in this series, mariners will probably lose both games, if Bryce miller starts a game, they probably lose that game
Hopefully it’s a 4 game series for us and we persevere through a miller start
The Mariners beat Skubal twice already this year, but ok!
I think the Woo news was as expected and can be weathered… honestly the biggest takeaway from this article was the news that Naylor might be gone from the team for a game or two… losing Naylor is more impactful I think.
She just needs to hold in the beautiful blessing until after tonight’s game. Missing the Skubal game would seem better for the lefty, even if he’s been scorching at Safeco.
Rooting for both teams. Just have a classic series.
Need to feed Woo to the pigs.
Woo is a stud. This is a notable hit to Seattle.
If Detroit plays like they did until September this could cost them. If Detroit plays the way they have the last 6 weeks it won’t matter.
We’ll see.
To be the men, the Tigers still have to beat the men!
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
So Seattle isn’t pitching Woo during the ALDS?
Might be a blessing in disguise. Mariners World Series chances were always going to depend on Luis Castillo, George Kirby, Logan Gilbert, and Andres Munoz rising to the occasion.
To get there, they have to also count on Woo in the ALCS as well.