Julio Rodriguez Makes Noise Early In Game 1

If the Seattle Mariners want to upset the Houston Astros in the American League Division Series, they will need their star to come through.

Yes: Julio Rodriguez needs to have a stellar showing in the ALDS for Seattle to advance.

The good news, for Mariners fans, is that he is off to a hot start in Tuesday’s game.

Against Astros ace Justin Verlander, J-Rod laced a huge two-run double to deep right center field that gave his team a 3-0 lead at the time, in the second inning.

Ty France proceeded to hit an RBI single that plated Rodriguez with Seattle’s fourth run.

Rodriguez, therefore, is making some noise early in the first game of the Division Series.

Julioooooooo!

The J-Rod Show makes a Game 1 appearance. #Postseason pic.twitter.com/gp4LhcTpwf

— MLB (@MLB) October 11, 2022

Beating The Astros Will Be Tough But The Mariners Are Off To A Great Start

Beating the Astros will be extremely hard, though: the Mariners’ early 4-0 lead was cut in half, to 4-2, thanks to the contributions of another offensive stud in the series: Yordan Alvarez.

The M’s then added two more runs in the top of the fourth against Verlander: one of them came on a JP Crawford home run, and the other was driven in by France and scored by Rodriguez, who had tripled earlier in the frame.

As long as Rodriguez is healthy and in a groove, however, there will be hope for Seattle.

We are talking about the American League’s leading candidate to win the Rookie of the Year award, a young 21-year-old man who hit 28 home runs and stole 25 bases in 2022.

J-Rod slashed a cool .284/.345/.509 with a 146 wRC+ (100 is considered league average performance).

Perhaps most importantly, he accumulated 5.3 Wins Above Replacement, or WAR, which is star-level and worthy of MVP buzz if it wasn’t for Aaron Judge‘s unreal season.