AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: MARINERS VS BLUE JAYS

October 13, 2025

John Schneider

Rogers Centre

Toronto Blue Jays

Postgame 2 Press Conference

Q. John, when you compare Trey today to his start against the Yankees, what did you notice that was different either in terms of what he did or their approach to him?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: I thought they were just trying to really get the ball up. I thought they did a good job. I thought the inning could have started a little bit differently to Randy there, and then just kind of a hanging split to Julio. I thought his stuff was pretty similar. Velo went down a little bit as he went. I think that was the biggest thing. Had the three strikeouts but wasn't getting as much swing-and-miss. That was the biggest thing.

Q. 2-0 going into Seattle. Where do you get the optimism, and what do you think needs to improve the next couple days?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: Always going to have optimism about this team. I think just looking at it as a whole, we've got to figure out ways to generate some more offense. Give the guys a ton of credit for coming back down three, you tie it. They just made more swings than us the last two games is kind of what it comes down to.

We've got to figure out a way to limit damage, one; and then two, generate more offense.

Q. You mentioned the offense. What does this team need to do to get to a point that they're scoring more runs for you?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: Do what we've done all year. I think just looking at the difference in these first two, you know, slug hasn't been there for us, has been there for them, and you never know when it's going to turn. They've got a good pitching staff. They're featuring some good stuff.

I thought today was way better than yesterday, obviously, and we hit some balls hard. I want these guys to continue to feel like they're on the attack; you know what I mean? It's what we've done this entire season.

Hopefully the luck turns, and hopefully the slug shows up when we get there.

Q. You mentioned Yesavage's velo dropping. How much consideration did you give to not having him start the fifth?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: A little bit. You know, something we talked about before the game. You kind of look at what he did the first couple times through there with those hitters, you consider it, but at the same time, it's tough to really just continue to churn through bullpen arms.

You're taking into account kind of the uniqueness of his arsenal, and you're kind of taking it a little bit batter to batter there. It didn't start out great with error and all that kind of stuff, so it was a tough decision for sure.

Q. Follow-up to that: How difficult is it right now with your bullpen performing the way it is?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: Yeah, I mean, you want them -- I think you look at --Louis punches out three, gives up a homer, Fish punches out three, gives up a homer.

The weird play with the foul ball off Kirky, probably could have caught it with J.P. at the plate. Dink hit off Flu.

I think I'm going to continue to trust them, for one, and I'm going to continue to trust everyone that either starts the game or comes in. Sometimes bullpens can be volatile. There's certain situations where you're chasing matchups, you're chasing velo, you're chasing stuff for certain guys.

The first two games it hasn't worked out.

I think that Polanco has had a really good -- I told you in the dugout, month, didn't execute up where we wanted to and paid the price. Again, you still trust them and you still trust Shane Bieber, you still Max Scherzer, Chris Bassitt, Kevin Gausman. You still trust all those guys. I think you just got to come in and execute.

Q. Given the way the game started with that Arozarena at-bat, what, if anything, are you looking for on a 22-year-old's face when something like that happens, you have a guy struck out, and you wind up having that at-bat continue?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: He did not really budge, you know. I feel like him, Kirky, Randy, Barger, Vlad, they were all waiting to throw the ball around. He didn't budge, and that's kind of been consistent with what he has been since he's been up here.

I thought he handled it all right and got through that inning pretty well and then went out and threw up a zero.

Again, man, that's not why we lost the game, I don't think, but it could maybe change some momentum a little bit. But I thought he handled it well.

Q. Just with Varsho, we saw a couple of uncharacteristic plays from him in center field. What did you see there?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: Kind of a weird read. Maybe it was the wind, a little chilly. That's a ball Varsh usually catches with his eyes closed. Garver hit it pretty well, but whenever a ball goes up center field and it doesn't leave the park, I think Varsh is going to catch it. Just kind of a little bit of a weird route, which is the last thing you think of when it goes up to him.

Q. When Varland first came in and you got the strikeout you were looking for, what happened in the next at-bat with Polanco?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: Just fastball wasn't where he wanted to put it. That's it. Momentum can swing quickly. Louis has got great stuff. He's got electric stuff. You still have to execute, no matter how hard you're throwing.

I think it was -- it's tough, man, when you get no outs and you're trying to just stop the bleeding. Punches out Julio. It just comes down to making pitches, really. That's all it is.

Confident they will, confident everyone will continue to do that. It's one of those things where it gets magnified in the postseason for sure, but you've got to just go out, trust the guys and execute the stuff.