If October is about execution, Game 2 was about interpretation, too. Seattle struck first, Julio Rodríguez detonated a first-inning, three-run blast that turned a hostile crowd into a hush. The Mariners had Logan Gilbert on the hill, the bullpen mapped, and a game script that made perfect sense: get ahead, land first-pitch strikes, ride soft contact. And then the zone started shrinking like a sweater in a hot dryer.
This is where the league’s slow walk on automated strike zone (ABS) tech stops being a theoretical debate and starts impacting careers in real time. You could feel it from the dugout rail: a good pitch becomes a “try again,” a defensive count turns hitter-friendly, and the inning that was supposed to end starts breeding extra pitches, extra baserunners, extra chaos.