Keys to ALCS Game 6 (and maybe 7): Superstar dilemmas, secret heroes and numbers to watch

Are we having amusive yet? Friday was 1 of the astir unforgettable days ever seen successful the playoffs, with Eugenio Suarez's go-ahead expansive slam rocking T-Mobile Park and putting the Seattle Mariners 1 triumph distant from the World Series, and past Shohei Ohtani's historical three-homer, 10-strikeout show that goes down arsenic possibly the azygous top idiosyncratic show successful postseason history.

Let's telephone it a top-five time of each clip and adhd this to our database of aboriginal projects to research. Meanwhile, with Ohtani's Los Angeles Dodgers successful the World Series, we're near with 1 crippled Sunday: The Seattle Mariners vs. the Toronto Blue Jays, Game 6 of the ALCS.

Let's excavation into it with immoderate of the keys to ticker with the remaining World Series spot astatine stake.

Seattle's challenge: Getting Vladimir Guerrero Jr. out

Guerrero is having a monster postseason, hitting .457/.524/.971 with 5 location runs. After a hitless archetypal 2 games of the ALCS, helium did his champion Roy Hobbs impersonation successful Seattle, going 7-for-11 with 5 extra-base hits. He has conscionable 2 strikeouts successful 42 postseason sheet appearances, and helium has had 15 balls successful play registry implicit 100 mph, including six of his 7 hits astatine T-Mobile.

"He's a peculiar player, a peculiar talent, an awesome feline to beryllium around," teammate Ernie Clement said. "He's earned each spot of occurrence that he's having, and I couldn't beryllium happier for him. Just truly arrogant of the enactment he's enactment in. To bash it connected the biggest stages, it's a testament to his work."

In Game 5, the Mariners intentionally walked Guerrero twice, erstwhile successful the 4th inning with cipher retired and a runner connected 2nd basal -- his 2nd intentional locomotion of the postseason with cipher out, the archetypal clip that has happened since 2016 -- and past successful the seventh with 2 outs and a runner connected second.

The Mariners escaped some jams, but they're playing with occurrence -- and that's whether they transportation to him oregon whether they enactment him on. It's surely not an casual determination for manager Dan Wilson with Guerrero truthful locked in, but yet 1 of those intentional walks is going to backfire and perchance pb to a large inning.

Toronto's challenge: Getting Cal Raleigh out

Raleigh is pursuing up his historical 60-homer play with an outstanding postseason of his own, hitting .333/.435/.692 with 4 location runs, the 1 Mariner who has provided accordant offense. Suarez's slam was the infinitesimal for the past books successful Game 5, but that infinitesimal mightiness ne'er hap if Raleigh doesn't archetypal necktie the crippled starring disconnected the eighth inning with his towering location tally to near that looked precocious capable to soar implicit the Space Needle.

"Oh my god, that shot took everlastingly to get down," said teammate Bryan Woo. "I can't accidental that I'm amazed anymore, but helium conscionable continues to impressment and amusement up successful large moments."

The Blue Jays person mostly gone close aft Raleigh, who has drawn 3 walks successful 5 games, 1 of those intentional. That included the game-tying location tally erstwhile Brendon Little fell down 2-0 but came successful with a fastball -- a small excessively overmuch down the middle.

"A batch of times I get retired determination and conscionable commencement swinging and effort to deed thing hard," Raleigh said, "but I was diligent waiting for my transportation determination and knowing to fto the crippled travel to me, effort and marque coagulated contact, don't request a location run, don't request to effort to deed a shot 500 feet, conscionable bash thing bully and adrenaline volition usually instrumentality implicit successful those moments."

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