The Seattle Mariners are finally going back to the playoffs. But can they go beyond the Wild-Card round? They have the Toronto Blue Jays in a three-game series that begins Friday in Toronto. If they survive the Blue Jays, they will get the unenviable task of overcoming the Houston Astros in the American League Division Series. But they can't look too far ahead. The Blue Jays are big threat themselves plus they're going to play all games in the Wild Card at home. With all that being said, here are three Mariners bold predictions for their MLB Playoff series against the Blue Jays.

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3. Julio Rodriguez hits at least 3 homers in the series

Julio Rodriguez is easily the best player on the Mariners' roster. He may not have the experience of playing on the big stage of the MLB postseason, but after seeing the rookie put on a show in the last 2022 MLB Home Run Derby, there's little to question about the young man's confidence. But it just goes beyond that. For the most part of the regular season, Rodriguez had shown up. Seattle manager Scott Servais certainly knows the value the Rodriguez brings to the team.

Via Maria Torres and Corey Brock of The Athletic:

“I give all the credit in the world to Julio,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said in April. “Not many people can handle things the way he has. He’s not barked back (to the umpire) … he’s not changed his approach and is not chasing balls out of the strike zone.”

If it weren't for Rodriguez, the Mariners would have likely missed the postseason cut and they would have had to wait for yet another year to see if they can finally break their playoff drought. In just his first season in the MLB, Rodriguez had hit a total of 28 home runs. That goes with an impressive batting line of .284/.345/.509 and a team-best OPS+ of 147. He did all that in 132 games. Injuries have cost Rodriguez quite a bunch of games and even missed some towards the end of the regular season, but shined right away when he returned for the team's final three games of the regular season against the Detroit Tigers, going 5-for-11 with a home run.

The Blue Jays had seemingly bottled up Rodriguez in the regular season, as he went just 5-for-26 against Toronto, but that's too small of a sample size to discourage Mariners fans from expecting fireworks from the explosive rookie. Plus, the Blue Jays aren't especially great at suppressing the power of opposing hitters. Among all the teams that made the 2022 MLB Playoffs, Toronto owns the second-highest mark in home runs allowed per nine innings (1.12). If we isolate just the relievers, we would see that the Blue Jays had the highest HR/9 mark in the regular season among MLB bullpens of playoff teams. Blue Jays relievers posted a collective 1.16 HR/9 in the regular season to go with a 4.03 FIP, ranked 12th-highest in the majors overall.

2. Mariners bullpen shuts down Blue Jays

The star of the Mariners' pitching staff is Luis Castillo, their prized acquisition at the trade deadline. But how far the Mariners could go in the postseason could come down to what their bullpen could do, beginning in the Wild-Card round against the Blue Jays. Paul Sewald has been solid as the Mariners' closer and is heading into the postseason battle with the Blue Jays.

Sewald collected 20 saves in the regular season to go with a 2.67 ERA. His 3.88 FIP suggests he is getting considerable help from Seattle's fielding, but overall, he has been dependable on the mound. The same can be said about Diego Castillo. And then there is the pair of Andrés Muñoz and Erik Swanson. Muñoz actually leads all Mariners relievers with a 1.9 fWAR, while Swanson is second with 1.7 fWAR. In the second half of the 2022 MLB regular season, Seattle was seventh in the majors with a relievers' ERA of 3.16 and eighth with a 3.46 FIP.

1. Eugenio Suarez doesn't get K'd from start to finish

Eugenio Suarez is one of the most interesting players in the majors as far as I'm concerned. The veteran power-hitter was acquired by the Mariners via a trade back in March without much expectation from Seattle fans of him turning things around following a disappointing campaign in his final year with the Cincinnati Reds. In 2021, Suarez hit just .198/.286/.428 with 31 home runs and 171 strikeouts. In his first season with the Mariners, Suarez emerged as the team's second-best position player, rebounding from a poor 2021 and posting a slash line of .236/.332/.459. He still finished with 31 home runs but his discipline at the plate has gotten better.

While he posted more strikeouts (196) in 2022 than in 2021, he improved his walk rate from 9.8% to 11.6%. He is also putting more balls in play, as evidenced by his .302 BABIP. Moreover, Suarez's wOBA, wRC+, and OPS+ are all up. In his final season in Reds uniform, Suarez recorded .306 wOBA, 84 wRC+, and just an 82 OPS+. Here's what he had in 2022 with the Mariners: .344 wOBA, 131 wRC+, and 129 OPS+. The strikeouts are always going to be there for Suarez, but at least for one series, wouldn't it be so much fun for Mariners fans to see someone who only had an 8% percentile rank in whiff% and a 5% percentile rank in K% help his team win without getting K'd?