‘Everything’s Been Progressing’: Bryan Woo Closer to Form in Bullpen Session, Still Unclear for ALDS

Bryan Woo throws from the mound during a live game simulation on Thursday, October 2, 2025. Credit: Callaghan Bluechel/Emerald City Spectrum.

SEATTLE, Wash. — Mariners starter Bryan Woo had his scheduled bullpen session on Thursday and followed that up with a live game scenario. Woo mixed pitch types and increased intensity over the workout, showing progress on the pectoral inflammation that presented itself on Sept. 19 during a start in Houston. Woo, although never placed on the injured list, missed his final scheduled start of the season. While Woo didn’t feel completely game-ready in his throwing session, he considered it good progress on his road to recovery.

“Still not where I want to be in terms of game speed of everything, but in terms of how everything’s progressed, I’m happy with it,” Woo remarked to media after his bullpen. “Considering a week ago, I wasn’t even throwing yet, and then a week from now, hopefully we’ll be in a better spot.”

There had been much speculation that Woo would be the man Dan Wilson looks to for Game 3 on Tuesday in Comerica Park. Woo performed the best of any Seattle starter on the road in 2025, going 5-5 with a 3.40 ERA during 98 innings over 16 starts, and with the very real possibility that Game 3 will be an elimination game for either side, Seattle would want their ace on the hill in that contest. But a week from Thursday is the day before Game 5, should it be necessary, and such wording gives a glimpse of a world where he can only start in the ALCS.

“It’s frustrating; with injuries you never know, obviously that’s part of it,” Woo said. “But you just you do your best control what you control in the training room and do what you can to get back on the field. Just baby steps right now.”

Pitching coach Pete Woodworth was in the batter’s box for something around the last half of his bullpen session, while Leo Rivas and Harry Ford stepped into the box as live hitters during the game scenario drill. He threw harder as the day went on, which was evidently what the team was looking for from a guy who relies on his fastball.

“It was just like, get through the whole day, keep increasing with the velocity,” Woo said. “I’ve been throwing off-speeds and stuff, and that stuff all feels good, it was more just the volume of the increasing velo. You never wanna take huge, huge jumps. Obviously, you gotta be smart with it.”

If Bryan Woo is unavailable for the ALDS—or out until Game 5—the Mariners might have to start Bryce Miller on the road in Game 4. Any combination of Logan Gilbert, Luis Castillo, and George Kirby can handle the first three contests, but the team would have just three options for Game 4: start one of the previous three on short rest, do a bullpen day, or start Bryce Miller.

Dan Wilson kept his cards close to his chest when it comes to the rotational plans for the ALDS, and it’s unlikely that the M’s have come to a decision. For Woo, the main focus is on his recovery. The timeline, after all, can’t be forced; all Woo and the Seattle staff can do is guide the recovery as best they can.

“With an injury like that, it doesn’t just disappear. It’s still doing treatment every day to flush that stuff out, still working on building the workload, and there’s a lot of different fronts to it,” Woo said. “But everything’s been progressing, and that’s all I can really ask for.”