Mariners Pitcher Bryce Miller on Series Win, Rotation Changes, Injury

Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Bryce Miller joins Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain at T-Mobile Park to talk about the team’s series win in Boston, the September success of Dan Wilson teams recently, the many rotation changes that the group has experienced throughout the season, recovering from a lat injury and being good to go, and 2025 talk.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 2 (00:19):
All right, we're back live from Jimmy's across the street
from T-Mobile Park. What do you say we head across
the street to T-Mobile Park and Talk about one of
our favorite guys. I got to tell you, man, I
know it's kind of random, Dick, but I want to
just tell Bryce Miller right now how freaking pumped up
I was when he went to Toronto in game one
and shoved it up to Blue Jays' ass for six
innings in the ALCS. That's going to be one of

(00:41):
my all-time great performances. And I don't think the guy
gets to hear that enough, how great he was in
that game one of the ALCS last year. And Bryce
Miller joins us right now on the radio show. Bryce,
how are you, man?

Speaker 3 (00:54):
I'm good.

Speaker 1 (00:54):
How are you?

Speaker 4 (00:55):
Good.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
Appreciate you jumping on, man, and joining us. So Dick
and I are doing the math on what it would
take for this team to make the playoffs, obviously. We
believe Buss is up and running, but give us your
thoughts on kind of the vibe inside that clubhouse right
now in that stadium after you guys went to Boston
and got a big series win. You know you're behind
the eight ball, but tell me about the vibe around

(01:17):
this clubhouse right now, man.

Speaker 3 (01:20):
Yeah, for sure. You know, the road trip didn't start
out how we wanted in Toronto. But, yeah, we were
happy to go into Boston and take a series. And,
you know, Boston, that's a good team over there. And
I think we played good baseball. You got it, Jackson.

Speaker 1 (01:37):
Where's he going?

Speaker 3 (01:38):
Can you hear me?

Speaker 2 (01:41):
Go ahead. Go ahead, Bryce.

Speaker 3 (01:42):
Sorry. You got me? Okay, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:47):
Like I said, we didn't start the road trip out
how we wanted. We went to Toronto and didn't play well,
but went into Boston and took a series from a
really good team. I thought we swung the bat really well.
We pitched pretty well for the most part. I think
we'll carry that momentum into September and into this weekend

(02:09):
against the A's.

Speaker 4 (02:11):
What do you think changed in the crispness of the team?
You mentioned the offense, but the defense was far better
in the Boston series than it was in the Toronto series.
Was there any message? Was there a meeting? Was Dan
talking before the Boston series? Because you guys did look
like a different baseball team at Fenway than you did
in Toronto.

Speaker 3 (02:32):
Yeah, no. There wasn't really anything revolutionary that was said.
I think that And, you know, for starters, anytime you
go and you get the opportunity to play in Fenway,
that's always fun. And I think it brings out the
best in a lot of people. And I think, you know,
sometimes you just need something, whether it's something random or

(02:53):
something small, to give you a little spark as a team.
And hopefully, you know, that Boston series will get us
going and we'll carry that into the rest of the month.
We definitely... We know we need a big month. We
need to win a lot of games this month, but
I think we all have it in front of us,

(03:15):
and we see what we have ahead, and it's time
to go.

Speaker 2 (03:19):
Yeah, no doubt. Well, your manager is 35-18 since he
took over in September, right? I mean, so there's no
doubt there's a track record of that. Do you guys
kind of lean on that a little bit, what happened
two years ago, what happened last year, that, man, we've
been here before in the month of September and we've responded.
Does that mean anything at all to this year's team, Bryce?

Speaker 3 (03:39):
No. I don't think so. I think it's, you know, well,
the past is the past. And, um, you know, I
think that's something that we, we might've almost done too
much of this year is, you know, talking about last
year and how, how good last year was and how
close we were to the world series. And I think, uh,
we almost did that a little too much. You know,

(04:00):
I think we need to, um, be in the moment and, um,
kind of, you know, take it day by day and
game by game and go from there. Um, I think
you can, look at the past a little too much
and be a little complacent with where you're at in
the present. So I think that's kind of where we're at.

Speaker 4 (04:20):
Well, yeah, I remember you mentioning that I think it
was April or May this year and that, you know,
that you guys are the hunted this year and that
almost makes you have to play better when you're the hunted, right?
And have you guys now gotten that where, you know,
you are the hunted now and you are able to
flip the switch in September?

Speaker 3 (04:42):
Yeah, I hope so. I mean, it was like I said,
that was something that we talked a lot about going
into the season, you know, with being two innings away
from a World Series. But that was kind of, you know,
how we were going to be viewed, you know, from
the other clubhouses. And but like I said, it's. We're

(05:03):
at where we're at right now and we can't change
what's already been done in the games that are finished.
So all we can do is go out and win tonight,
win tomorrow and take it game by game and series
by series. And hopefully at the end of this month,
we look up and we're in a spot where we
want to be.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
Well, Bryce Miller is with us, and Bryce, there's a
lot about you I appreciate. One thing is that you
wear your emotions on your sleeve, right? There's no doubt
about that, and this year's been frustrating for a lot
of us fans. You know, guys like us have been
fans for 50 years of this baseball team, waiting for
the first World Series ever, and I can see the
frustration on your face, and I think sometimes in this business,
we don't really understand what's happening behind the scenes, so

(05:41):
we just kind of form perceptions about what's going on,
and I want to ask you, you know, typically when
a Major League Baseball season starts, as a starting pitcher,
you know that every fifth day you're going out there,
and that's it, right? You're a creature of habit. You've
been doing that your whole life, and now things change,
and all of a sudden it's a six-man. All of
a sudden it's a piggyback. Did that throw you off

(06:03):
any at all this year, you think, having to deal
with something that typically you haven't dealt with as a
starting pitcher?

Speaker 3 (06:13):
I mean, yeah, it's definitely been a non-traditional season, you know,
when it comes to that point. But at the end
of the day, you know, you got to go out
and whenever they tell you to throw, that's when you
got to throw. And so whether that's on five days,
six days, seven days, whatever it is, you know, you

(06:37):
kind of plan your week and your preparation for, whatever
day it is, um, that, that is your day. And
so I think that's, you know, back in college, you know,
everybody was on a seven day in college and then
you get to the minor leagues and most guys are
on a six day pretty consistently. And then you get
to the big leagues and it's five and six days
back and forth. Um, and so, yeah, this, this year

(07:00):
it's been a lot of, you know, five, six, seven,
mainly six, seven, and a lot of seven days. Um,
but like I said, it's, uh, It's just a little
different routine. It takes a little bit of, you know,
different preparation to be ready on seven days compared to
on five. But, you know, we're all professionals and we

(07:21):
know how to structure our weeks however we need to
to be ready on whatever day they tell us.

Speaker 4 (07:29):
Bryce, you had the lap thing recently, but you threw
65 good pitches on Wednesday in a win. How many
pitches do you think you can go in your next
start if you needed to?

Speaker 3 (07:39):
I mean, I'm good to go 100 if they would
like me to. Whatever they need, you know. I really didn't.
It was 10 days between starts, between the Chicago and
the Boston start. I'm not sure if that's partially the

(08:01):
reason why I threw 65, but I'm good to go.
We're at the point of the year where I'm around
100 innings. I'm in a good spot for whatever the
week or the situation calls for. Ideally, I got no...
uh limitations on pitch count and i can go out

(08:22):
there and throw until so dan comes and gets the
ball from.

Speaker 2 (08:25):
Me yeah well i love your attitude you're a bulldog
man no doubt about it i can see it in
your voice in your face how ticked off you are
when you're getting yanked out of a game and you
know the fifth inning so i love that attitude from
you but bryce i want to just just wrap one
thing up because you said something there about you felt
like maybe you were talking too much about last year
can you expand on that like what does that look
like what what did that look like behind the scenes.

Speaker 3 (08:50):
Yeah, I think, you know, coming into this season and
spring training and just about every single meeting that we've
had as a team up until about a month ago,
it was every single time, you know, it comes up of, oh,
you know, last year we did this. Last year we
were in the ALCS. Last year we almost went to
the World Series. And I think there comes a point

(09:13):
where we recognize that, you know, we had a good
season last year and we have– expectations that we want
to meet. Um, but there also comes a point where
you got to let go of that. This is a
new season. What we did last year has nothing to
do with what we do this year. Um, and we
just got to go out there and play, you know,

(09:34):
it is, it wouldn't have mattered if we were in
the world series last year or not, that's not going
to change the results that we have this year. Um,
and I think that's, you know, something that we, we
kind of as a team, um, talked about um in
our our last meeting was like all right whatever you
know our expectations were whatever happened last year it's done

(09:56):
we can't relive it. We're living now. We're living in
a new season with new difficulties and new opportunities, and
it's time to move on and go out and win
today and win this series, win this month, and get

(10:16):
into the postseason and make a new story.

Speaker 2 (10:18):
Yeah, no doubt. Bryce, appreciate you, man. Thanks for doing this.
Best of luck in your next start, and we'll talk
down the road, buddy.

Speaker 3 (10:25):
Yes, sir. Thank you.

Speaker 1 (10:28):
All right, man.

Speaker 2 (10:28):
Bryce Miller with us on the radio show. Wow.

Speaker 1 (10:31):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (10:32):
I don't even know how to respond to that. I mean,
Jerry's Brewer is going to be on with us next segment.
We might want to replay that and get Jerry's take
on that. I mean, unless I'm missing something, Jackson and Dick,
he's basically telling us that up until recently– They had
a hard time kind of letting go of what happened
a year ago.

Speaker 4 (10:50):
And the topic of last year kept coming up.

Speaker 2 (10:53):
I got to hear that again. I got to hear
that again. Let's talk about this. Maybe we'll try to
get it for Jerry next on 93.3 KJRFM.