Mariners vs. Blue Jays score and live updates: Latest news and analysis from today’s ALCS Game 7 – The New York Times

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The Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners square off in Game 7 of the ALCS, with a spot in the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers on the line.
Follow along below for live updates and analysis from before first pitch to the final out and trophy presentation.
The Blue Jays acquired Shane Bieber, a former Cy Young award winner working his way back from Tommy John surgery, essentially for games like these. He struggled against the Yankees in the ALDS, but limited the Mariners two runs across six innings in Game 3. He has put his team in an early hole again after Josh Naylor’s RBI single.
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▶️ Josh Naylor gets an RBI single. His hit gets by Vladimir Guerrero Jr into right field. Julio Rodriguez scurries home to give Seattle an early lead. | Top 1st Mariners 1, Blue Jays 0
▶️ Shane Bieber with a fastball up and in to get out number one. A well placed fastball from the Blue Jays pitcher. Josh Naylor is up to bat. | Top 1st Mariners 0, Blue Jays 0
Julio Rodríguez starts things off with a double down the left field line. He was in a great frame of mind before the game:
💬 “This is my first time being part of a Game 7, and they say in sports that there's no better two words than that, so I'm very excited for today.”
▶️ On the second pitch, Julio Rodríguez hits a line drive to the left field. He attacks the slider of Shane Bieber. A leadoff double for Rodriguez. | Top 1st Mariners 0, Blue Jays 0
▶️ We're underway with Game 7 of the ALCS. Shane Bieber throws a ball to Julio Rodríguez. | Top 1st Mariners 0, Blue Jays 0
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If you are watching on Sportsnet in Canada, they are introducing Game 7 to the tune of The Rolling Stones' “Gimme Shelter!”
Absolute chills. Moments away from first pitch of Game 7.
Here. We. GO!
Here is our Ken Rosenthal on the Fox broadcast detailing the Seattle Mariners' pitching plans beyond George Kirby tonight in Game 7.
Marco Estrada, a former Blue Jays pitcher whose had some big moments in October, throws out the ceremonial first pitch.
We're moments away from Game 7. A special night of baseball awaits. A spot in the World Series is on the line.
Enjoy!
Dodgers fans may also remember what happened after that relief appearance by Scherzer. The phrase “overcooked arm” now lives on in franchise infamy.
GO FURTHER
McCullough: Why did the Dodgers’ pitching implode? Bad luck and bad decisions
With word that Max Scherzer will be in the bullpen for tonight's Game 7, it's worth remembering his heroics against the San Francisco Giants in 2021's NLDS. There, he came out of the bullpen to secure the game's final three outs, pushing the Dodgers to an NLCS against the eventual world champion Braves.
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Mariners manager Dan Wilson summed up the relief availability for both clubs in his pregame session with reporters:
💬 “In terms of the bullpen tonight, we say all hands on deck.”
Well, yeah. It’s Game 7, after all. But a quick look at the usage last night, to keep in mind after Seattle starter George Kirby and Blue Jays starter Shane Bieber leave the stage.
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So the Mariners will have a fresh closer in Andrés Muñoz, while the Blue Jays may be inclined to dip into their reserve of starters after Hoffman’s lengthy outing last night. Both Kevin Gausman and Max Scherzer will be in the bullpen for Toronto manager John Schneider this evening.
💬 “It's not set in stone where we may use either one of them,” Schneider said. “But I think knowing that they are going to be mentally and physically ready if we do call on them is very comforting.”
Our staff slightly favored the Blue Jays entering this series, with 52 percent of staff voters picking them in our ALCS predictions and 48 percent predicting Seattle would advance to its first World Series. (I was a 48 percenter, a Mariners believer.)
Here’s what Katie Woo had to say ahead of this series:
📝 “It’s hard to root against playoff Vladdy and the Blue Jays, given how dominant Toronto has looked, and the Mariners will again have to get crafty with their pitching. But there’s something special about this once-in-a-generation Seattle team, one that could see a huge boost if Bryan Woo is deemed healthy. Give the people what they want: seven games, please.”
The people got what they wanted!
(And let it not go unmentioned that a Woo shouted out a Woo — no relation.)
GO FURTHER
ALCS predictions: Our experts pick whether the Mariners or Blue Jays will win the pennant
The pitching availability for tonight’s game is simple: All hands on deck, unless your name is Trey Yesavage or Logan Gilbert (the Game 6 starters for the Blue Jays and Mariners, respectively).
The Mariners have, on paper, had the pitching advantage this entire series — though it hasn’t always turned out that way in practice, especially in Games 3 and 4 against Seattle aces George Kirby and Luis Castillo. But Toronto’s rickety bullpen could at least count on closer Jeff Hoffman as its anchor, as it did in yesterday’s Game 6, when Hoffman threw a career-high 35 pitches to record the final six outs.
Hoffman will undoubtedly be available tonight, and will probably enter the game at some point. But how sharp will he be after having to do so much in Game 6?
Both Julio Rodríguez and Cal Raleigh have had their moments this postseason. Seattle’s two superstar hitters have combined for five home runs this series — Rodríguez in Games 2 and 3, Raleigh in Games 1, 3 and 5 — the last of which was a game-tying blast in the bottom of the eighth in Seattle that set the stage for Eugenio Suárez’s game-winning grand slam later that inning.
But neither has been consistent. Rodríguez is hitless in his last three games and is batting just .186 in October. Raleigh has just one hit in that span (see above), and grounded into a brutal bases-loaded, inning-ending double play in the third inning of Game 6 with young Toronto starter Trey Yesavage clinging to a 2-0 lead.
Rodríguez has been the face of the Mariners since his 2022 MLB debut, while Raleigh is coming off a 60-home run season that might win him American League MVP in a few weeks. But what they do tonight will go a very, very long way towards not just how their 2025 seasons are remembered, but maybe even how their Mariners careers are when all is said and done.
For years now, the Blue Jays have been trying frantically to build a reliable rotation. In December of 2021, they finally signed Kevin Gausman to be their ace — and he’s been a source of stability atop the rotation — but the Jays have otherwise cycled through a series of middle and back-end starters to varying degrees of success.
Their most recent addition — aside from the late-season call-up of Game 6 starter Trey Yesavage — was a trade deadline deal for former Cy Young winner Shane Bieber. He’s 30 years old and pitched to a 3.57 ERA in seven regular season starts after returning from Tommy John surgery. He also pitched in Game 3 of this ALCS and struck out eight in six good innings. Julio Rodríguez hit a two-run homer off him, but Bieber also struck out Rodríguez once, and he had punch outs of Randy Arozarena, Cal Raleigh, Josh Naylor and the entire bottom third of the Mariners lineup.
Here's the Mariners’ Game 3 lineup with their career numbers against Bieber.
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By most measurements, the Mariners had the better pitching staff in the regular season and certainly in the second half, but the Blue Jays have better numbers on the mound in this series. Each team has had one game that seriously inflated their ERA — Game 2 for the Blue Jays, Game 3 for the Mariners — but the difference in strikeouts is massive, and the Mariners have stranded runners at an unusually high rate (no team had better than a 76 left-on-base percentage in the regular season).
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First, the offensive numbers, which show the Blue Jays significantly outslugging and outscoring the Mariners through the first six games. More than a third of the Mariners’ runs came in Game 2 (a 10-3 win for Seattle) and more than a third of the Blue Jays’ runs came in Game 3 (which they won 13-4). The Mariners have actually hit more home runs, but the Blue Jays just have so many more doubles.
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Blue Jays
It was George Kirby who started the winner-take-all Game 5 of the ALDS, and it’s George Kirby starting the winner-take-all Game 7 of the ALCS. Kirby is a good starter. A former All-Star. A guy who got down-ballot Cy Young votes. A man with impeccable command. He hurled 10 innings across two starts against the Tigers, allowing just three runs while striking out 14.
But, uh, then came the Jays.
Kirby melted down in Game 3 of the ALCS. He struggled to find the zone. He missed spots. He served up three home runs. So, the Jays are not afraid of seeing Kirby come back in Game 7. They already rattled him once this series.

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