TORONTO, ONT – Injured Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette is not on the roster for the AL Championship Series against the Seattle Mariners that begins Sunday night in Toronto, but three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer and right-hander Chris Bassitt are both active after missing the Division Series win over the Yankees.
Seattle made two changes to the roster that beat Detroit in the Division Series round, with ace right-hander Bryan Woo returning.
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Bichette ran the bases Saturday, the first time he’s done that since spraining his left knee last month. The two-time AL hits leader and two-time All-Star grimaced while rounding second base, pulled up and walked off the field shaking his head.
“Didn’t set himself back by any means,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said before Sunday's opener. “Just wasn’t ready to go kind of full speed today.”
Bichette finished second in the major leagues to New York’s Aaron Judge with a .311 batting average. Bichette hasn't played since he was injured in a Sept. 6 collision with Yankees catcher Austin Wells.
Bichette was set to take a break from running on Saturday, Schneider said. The two-time All-Star will keep working out in case the Blue Jays advance to the World Series, which starts Oct. 24.
“He wants nothing more than to be out there," Schneider said. ”But he’s going to keep himself ready and trying to get ready. Hopefully, we advance and he can kind of check off the boxes that we need him to check off."
Bichette is eligible for free agency after the World Series.
Toronto’s 13 position players for the ALCS are the same group that scored 34 runs in 34 innings against the Yankees.
An eight-time All-Star, Scherzer was 5-5 with a 5.19 ERA in 17 starts after agreeing to a $15.5 million, one-year contract. He didn’t pitch between March 29 and June 25 because of right thumb inflammation.
Scherzer was 1-3 with a 9.00 ERA in his final six starts.
“He’s feeling better physically right now than he was a month ago,” Schneider said, adding that neck pain had limited Scherzer late in the season.
Bassitt went 11-9 with a 3.96 ERA in 32 appearances, all but one of them starts.
Scherzer and Bassitt take the spots of left-hander Justin Bruihl and right-hander Tommy Nance.
"In a seven-game series with (games on) five out of six (days), too, just the length and the experience that they both have played a huge factor,"" Schneider said.
A first-time All-Star for Seattle this season, the 25-year-old Woo hasn’t pitched since Sept. 19 because of pectoral inflammation. He went 15-7 with a 2.94 ERA and 198 strikeouts across 186 2/3 regular-season innings.
“He’s made steady progress and has hits some of the milestones we were hoping for,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “Felt good in his last bullpen and the velos were where we were hoping, too.”
Wilson said Woo might throw to batters on Monday.
"Hoping that as we get into this series, we’ll get a chance to see him later," he said.
Besides Woo, the Mariners added utilityman Miles Mastrobuoni for the ALCS. The two additions took the spots of outfielder Luke Raley and infielder Ben Williamson.
“Stro is one of those guys that’s able to play anywhere on the infield and can fill in in a lot of the outfield spots as well,” Wilson said. “Adding that versatility is going to be something that we’re hoping for.”
There are three catchers among Seattle’s 13 position players, including Cal Raleigh, Mitch Garver and Harry Ford.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb