<p>The Blue Jays and Mariners came into existence together, and now, 45 years later, they meet in the postseason for the first time when they open a best-of-three American League wild-card series in Toronto Friday afternoon. The Jays beat Seattle by two games in the regular-season standings, so they will host this entire series, whether it goes two or three games.<br />
Alek Manoah gets the call for Toronto here against trade deadline acquisition Luis Castillo for Seattle.<br />
How are we playing this game with our free SEA/TOR Game 1 pick?</p>
<h2>MLB Betting Odds </h2>
<p>The wild-card baseball betting lines opened Toronto and Manoah at around -140 over Seattle and Castillo, with an over/under of seven runs. Early betting action then bumped the Blue Jays a nickel to -145.<br />
Toronto is also lined as a -160 favorite to win this wild-card series, with the Mariners getting +140 as the underdogs.</p>
<h2>Mariners-Blue Jays MLB Betting Preview </h2>
<p>Seattle is playing in the MLB postseason for the first time since 2001. The Mariners played 90-72 this season, good for second place in the AL West, and claimed the No. 2 spot in the American League wild-card standings. The M’s also played over their season wins over/under, which was 84.5.
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<p>Seattle just took the last three games of a four-game series with Detroit to finish the season earlier this week and won seven of its last nine overall.</p>
<p>Toronto, meanwhile, is back in the playoffs for the second time in the last three seasons. The Blue Jays played 92-70 to take second place in the AL East and claimed the top spot in the AL wild-card standings. The Jays also played over their season wins O/U, which was 91.5, by half a game.
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<p>Toronto just finished its season by taking two of three games from Baltimore and won eight of its last 11 overall.</p>
<p>The Blue Jays beat the Mariners by two games in the regular-season standings this year, but Seattle took the season series from Toronto five games to two.
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<h2>Game 1 Pitching Match-Up</h2>
<p><a class="advblue" href="https://www.sportsbettingstats.com/mlb/pitcherlog/396981&quot; title="Alek Manoah Pitching Game Stats">Manoah</a> hit a super 25/31 on quality starts this season and finished eight for his last eight. Last Friday, he held Boston scoreless on two hits through six innings of a 9-0 Toronto victory. And over his last eight starts, he allowed just seven runs - six earned - and 31 hits through 54 innings, with 16 walks against 49 strikeouts.<br />
The Blue Jays played 18-13 with Manoah this season, and that’s probably five or six games worse than they should have been, based on his performances.<br />
In his only career start against Seattle, back in July of this season, Manoah allowed two runs and three hits through 7 1/3 innings, although the Jays lost that game 2-1.<br />
<a href="https://www.sportsbettingstats.com/mlb/pitcherlog/100279&quot; title="Luis Castillo Pitching Game Logs">Castillo</a> hit 14/25 on quality starts this year but finished one for his last three. Last Saturday, he held Oakland to one run and two hits through six innings of a 5-1 Mariners win. But over his two starts previous to that, he got nicked for nine runs through 10 innings in a pair of Seattle losses.<br />
Cincinnati, a team that lost 100 games this season, played 8-6 with Castillo this season, and the Mariners are 6-5 with him.<br />
In his only career start against Toronto, back in May of this season while still with the Reds, Castillo allowed two runs and seven hits through six innings, although Cincy lost that game 2-1.</p>
<h2>Splits With the Sticks</h2>
<p>Seattle batted .229 against right-handed pitching this season, with a .311 team OBP and a .391 team slugging percentage.<br />
Toronto slashed .266/.329/.432 against right-handed pitching. Numbers like those lead us to rank this line-up among the top three in Baseball in this split.</p>
<h2>The Bullpens </h2>
<p>The Blue Jays bullpen posted a 3.77 ERA this season, along with a 1.22 WHIP and a 2.85 K/BB ratio.<br />
The Mariners pen put up a 3.33 ERA, a 1.08 WHIP, and a 3.22 K/BB ratio.</p>
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<span style="font-size:16px; color:#008000;">Get more details:</span> <a href="https://www.sportsbettingstats.com/mlb/matchup/1771946">Seattle at Toronto 10/7/22 Betting Stats</a>
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<h2>MLB Betting Trends</h2>
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<li>Seattle played 44-37 on the road this season and 68-52 against right-handed starters.</li>
<li>Toronto played 47-34 at home and 81-50 against right-handed starters.</li>
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<h2>Totals Report</h2>
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<li>The Unders played 78-76 in Mariners games this season.</li>
<li>The Overs played 84-75 in Blue Jays games.</li>
<li>The Unders played 5-2 in Mariners-Blue Jays games this season.</li>
<li>The Overs played 43-36 at Rogers Centre this season.</li>
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