Blue Jays still seeking 1st win against Seattle in ALCS Game 3

The Toronto Blue Jays will get another chance Wednesday evening to claim their first win of the best-of-seven American League Championship Series (ALCS) against the Seattle Mariners.

Toronto dug itself a hole early, losing the first two games at home over the Thanksgiving weekend, forcing the team to try to reverse the momentum in Seattle, where Wednesday's Game 3 gets underway just after 8 p.m. ET.

Blue Jays manager John Schneider told reporters on Tuesday that he was confident in what his team could do, despite the losses.

"I've said it all along, man — I like our chances, really, any day, anywhere, against anyone," he said.

"I think the guys are going to come out knowing exactly what they have to do [in Game 3]," said Schneider, underlining that it's a best-of-seven series.

When speaking with media on Tuesday, Toronto closing pitcher Jeff Hoffman noted that he expected any series with Seattle to be tough, given that the Mariners — just like the Jays — are one of just four teams to make it this far in the post-season.

"It's not going to be a cakewalk, it never was going to be a cakewalk, and we gotta go out and play good baseball," said Hoffman, who was the last relief pitcher Toronto sent to the mound in Game 1 on Sunday.

The next three games of the series (provided the Mariners don't sweep the Jays out of the playoffs by winning the next two) are set to take place at Seattle's T-Mobile Park — including Wednesday's Game 3, then Game 4 on Thursday and Game 5 (if necessary) on Friday.

The Jays need to win at least two of the next three games to stay alive. If they do, the series returns to Toronto's Rogers Centre for Game 6 on Sunday, Oct. 19. If necessary, Game 7 would also be played in Toronto on Monday, Oct. 20.

Mariners manager Dan Wilson conceded that having a 2-0 lead was "a very advantageous position" to be in, but he says Seattle still has work to do.

"We're taking it one day at a time," Wilson said Tuesday. "It sounds very cliché, but you take it one step at a time."

And it's certainly possible for the Jays to win in Seattle, just as they did in May, sweeping the Mariners in a three-game series.

According to The Associated Press, 24 of 27 teams that started out 2-0 in a best-of-seven playoff series on the road have gone on to win that series.

It'll be up to Blue Jays starter Shane Bieber to stop Seattle from getting ahead in Game 3, which gets underway just after 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday.

Bieber, 30, is a former Cy Young winner who came to Toronto via a deal with the Cleveland Guardians at the trade deadline.

He has playoff experience, including a start in Toronto's American League Division Series (ALDS) against the New York Yankees. The Blue Jays won that best-of-five series in four games. Bieber started Game 3 of the ALDS, the only game the Jays lost to the Yankees.

For the Mariners, it will be George Kirby taking the mound. The 27-year-old has struck out 14 batters across 10 innings of work for Seattle in two post-season starts, prior to Wednesday's game.

The Blue Jays — who had the highest batting average and on-base percentage in all of Major League Baseball during the regular season — struggled to generate offence in the first two ALCS games.

Game 1 saw Toronto fall 3-1 to Seattle, a Sunday night contest that came less than 48 hours after the Mariners wrapped a 15-inning marathon game against the Detroit Tigers to join the current series with Toronto.

The Blue Jays got a strong start from veteran pitcher Kevin Gausman in Game 1, but Toronto's lineup could not muster any runs beyond the leadoff home run Toronto slugger George Springer hit Sunday night.

Monday's Game 2 was no better for Toronto, as the team's bats once again fell short in a 10-3 pounding by Seattle. The game was tough from the get-go for the young Blue Jays phenom Trey Yesavage, who got the critical start in what was just his fifth-ever game at the major-league level.

With a 2-0 lead in the series, the Mariners are halfway to their goal of winning the ALCS and getting to the World Series.

Toronto also needs to carve out four wins to advance. If they lose once more in this series, then every game they play after that is a must-win situation.

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I wouldn't count this group out," Yesavage, the 22-year-old rookie starter, who joined the Jays' roster in September, said after Game 2.

"This group is special."

It took nine seasons for the Blue Jays to make it back to the ALCS, their last appearance coming in 2016 when Cleveland defeated Toronto in five games.

Seattle's wait has been even longer: The Mariners last made it to this playoff round in 2001.

Both the Mariners and the Blue Jays joined the American league as expansion teams in 1977.

While the Blue Jays would eventually claim back-to-back World Series titles in 1992 and 1993, the Mariners have never played in the Fall Classic.