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AG: Welcome back to The Wheelhouse, as our series of bonus episodes continues as the Mariners keep on rolling through the playoffs! Jerry Dipoto, glad to have you back with us for yet another week.

JD: Thanks, Aaron! I'm absolutely thrilled to be doing this with you again.

AG: Well, exciting times for the Mariners, who are now in the ALCS for the first time since 2001, breaking what had been the longest streak in Major League Baseball to get this far, and hoping to reach the World Series for the first time in franchise history.

JD: It's been an exciting ride. I think our guys are sort of building on the underdog status. They haven't got a lot of acclaim nationally, especially when you consider how good the top tier of the AL has been this year, and their kind of using that lack of respect as bulletin-board material.

AG: Let's go back to the Division Series for a minute here. When we left off, the M's and Astros were tied at a game apiece. James Paxton didn't have his best stuff in game three, and it was one of those few games that the bullpen didn't have a great game, with Edwin Diaz and Nick Rumbelow both giving up two-run home runs. The big exception being James Pazos, who struck out four of the five batters he faced. How were you guys feeling down two games to one in the series?

JD: Honestly, pretty confident. I think our guys feel like they don't have anything to lose, and again, being the underdog, you're sort of expected to lose. Now, we don't expect to lose, and we expect that if we play our kind of game we'll win just about every series.

AG: Game four pitted Mike Leake against Justin Verlander, and neither of them started off very well, with the Astros scoring two in the first, and then the M's come back to pummel Verlander with five hits as well as Nelson Cruz reaching on a crucial error by Alex Bregman. Must have been a good feeling to go up two runs on Verlander.

JD: It was. And he pitched pretty well the rest of the way, so those runs were really important to us.

AG: Edwin Diaz and James Pazos both perfect in relief. Juan Nicasio made things a little interesting, giving up a three-run homer to Marwin Gonzalez in the ninth, but the M's hold on for a 7-5 win to tie the series.

JD: Yeah. We've really tried to shorten games as much as we can, and you saw that play out in game five, even with Edwin Diaz not available for that game.

AG: Felix was back, looking to atone for a lackluster first postseason start, and really came through for you.

JD: He sure did. Five and a third shutout innings, just one hit and one walk, and no question he could have gone longer.

AG: That brought on the parade of bullpen arms, with Nicasio, Pazos, Rumbelow and Mark Rzepcyznski shutting down the Astros the rest of the way to close out a 2-0 win and take the series. Kevin Pillar deservingly given the MVP, with nine hits, including two doubles, two triples and two home runs, and eight runs batter in. How big has he been?

JD: Oh, he's been incredible. You know, we've kept him down at the bottom of the lineup but he's been an incredible sparkplug for us. So exciting for him to be a part of it, and our guys have loved having him around. I don't want to toot my own horn too much, but he was a huge addition at the trade deadline.

AG: So with your division rivals vanquished, the Mariners have a day to celebrate, and then on to Cleveland for the LCS. And game one is no easy feat, matching up your ace James Paxton against their ace Corey Kluber.

JD: It was one of those rare times that we are able to get to Kluber. He made a number of good pitches but our guys were able to get a piece of a number of pitches and score some runs off him.

AG: An unusual first inning for the M's, with Dee Gordon reaching on an error, Kluber hitting Jean Segura with a pitch, both advancing on a wild pitch and then scoring on Robbie Cano's single to give the M's a 2-0 lead three batters into the game. And then Kluber ended up allowing 11 hits, but just one more run. How did James Paxton look?

JD: You know, pretty sharp. Struck out six, didn't walk anybody. He really deserved the win, but we went to the bullpen early, as usual, who shut things down.

AG: The combo of Edwin Diaz, James Pazos and Juan Nicasio gave you 4 1/3 innings pitches, one hit, four strikeouts, no walks and no runs allowed.

JD: We kind of expect that from them at this point. The Indians have a great group as relievers as well in Andrew Miller, Dellin Betances and Cody Allen, but even Terry Francona isn't quite as aggressive with his use of those guys in the postseason as Scott Servais is.

AG: I should mention also- Dee Gordon, three stolen bases in that game. Now with 12 in the postseason, caught just once. Is anyone gonna slow him down?

JD: (laughs) I don't think so.

AG: The Indians come back to tie the series in game two behind two home runs by Franciso Lindor. The M's make it close late with home runs by Kevin Pillar and Mike Zunino, both of whom have been blistering hot in the postseason, but end up falling 6-5.

JD: We know we can't win all of them, though when we got Jean Segura to third base in the ninth inning with one out we felt like we had a pretty good shot at that one. But we're still in a really good position, going back to Safeco for the next three games with the series tied.

AG: Felix goes up against Danny Salazar in that one. Well, Jerry, want to take a listener question?

JD: I do!

AG: This one comes to you from Kevin in Everett. Kevin's question is, how did you decide to postseason bullpen, and was there any consideration to having Doug Fister and John Gant on the roster instead of Dan Altavilla, Richard Lovelady or Erasmo Ramirez?

JD: Yeah, any of those guys would have been reasonable choices, and although Doug gave us some useful starts over the course of the season, we didn't really need a long reliever in the playoffs. Likewise, John gave us some good innings in the bullpen, but we just felt that Dan was a more consistent part of our pen. Richard gives us another lefty to match up with in the late innings. And Erasmo's stuff plays up a bit in shorter outings in the bullpen. But again, we could have easily put Doug or John on the roster.

AG: Well, we'll wind things up here. Jerry, good luck to you with the rest of the series, and hopefully, we'll be coming to you next week with the M's heading to the World Series.

JD: That's the goal! Thanks Aaron.

AG: Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next week on The Wheelhouse.