SEATTLE — Daniel Kramer, MLB.com’s Mariners beat reporter, held an “Ask Me Anything” on Reddit with Mariners fans at r/Mariners, ahead of the American League Division Series. This mailbag features excerpted questions and answers from that event (some lightly edited for clarity). The full AMA is available to read here.

What are all the reasons you think the Mariners will never lose another game, this year or next?
This is quite the sentiment, and certainly one that many Mariners fans will carry into what should be an electric atmosphere this weekend at T-Mobile Park. There’s quite a bit of confidence exuding from the clubhouse, too, as there should be after their resounding September that captured home-field advantage in this best-of-five round.

While they aren’t taking the Tigers lightly — this is, after all, the team that had MLB’s best record going into the All-Star break — the Mariners have positioned themselves with a very favorable path in October.

If they were to advance from this round, they would face either the Blue Jays (against whom they’d have no fear after winning the Wild Card Series in Toronto in 2022) or Yankees (whom they’d have home-field advantage over by virtue of being the higher seed).

“Obviously, we’re in a little different position this time,” Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh said, referencing the Mariners’ last playoff berth in 2022, when they claimed the second AL Wild Card. “And I think just — hopefully we can take something from it, not taking anything for granted. We played three tough games, but we weren’t able to finish those games with the Astros a couple years ago, and understanding that it’s important to finish, it’s important to stay locked in, things like that.”

What do you think the biggest postseason strength is? How about the team’s biggest weakness?
It’s wild to say this, given the organizational blueprint to success in recent years has been rooted in starting pitching. But it’s largely been their offense why they’re in this position — and it’s a group seemingly built for October.

Seattle’s lineup is stacked enough to consistently hit the long ball — they ranked third in homers — and the crooked-number potential in the playoffs, when the pitching caliber skyrockets, is so vital. Teams that have out-homered their opponent in this year’s postseason, so far, are 5-1 (last year, it was 23-8), and a sizable 33.3 percent of runs in these playoffs have been scored via homers (it was 41.1 percent in the regular season and 47 percent in last year’s postseason).

“This team is more like a powerful lineup,” said first baseman Josh Naylor, who was part of three postseason squads in Cleveland. “Everyone can hit a homer at any point in the game.”

The Mariners also aggressively run the bases — ranking third in steals — and that extra 90 feet is also vital.

“I feel like in that way, you can impact the game in many different ways,” said Julio Rodríguez, who achieved his second career 30/30 season. “You can force things for the other team, or, like, kind of put things in their mind and something else to worry about.”

If Bryan Woo is unable to pitch in the ALDS, who becomes the fourth starter?
The Mariners would have multiple options for Games 4 and 5 should the series reach that point. That said, Bryce Miller said before Thursday’s scrimmage that he’s been told to “be ready early” in the series to pitch out of the bullpen, but also, “if we get deeper into the series, be prepared to start.”

Logan Gilbert hasn’t been formally announced as the Game 3 starter for Tuesday in Detroit, but he’ll almost certainly get that assignment. That would make Game 4 their next big decision marker, and whether to turn to Miller — depending on his workload out of the ‘pen early in the series — or Game 1 starter George Kirby on three days’ rest. However, the fact that they opted for Kirby over Gilbert to begin the playoffs could hint that they’d prefer not using Kirby on the road at all in this series.

Any chance we actually see Colt Emerson debut this postseason?
Emerson, who’s on the Mariners’ taxi squad, probably said it best when playing in their first scrimmage on Wednesday.

“Just be ready, and maybe there’s a shot. Maybe there’s not — hopefully not,” Seattle’s No. 1 prospect by MLB Pipeline said. “Hopefully nobody gets hurt. But I’m just here. I’m grateful for the opportunity.”

The only way Emerson would be added is if there were an injury, and even then, that injury would almost certainly have to be for fellow shortstop J.P. Crawford. If that were to happen, the Mariners would face an interesting decision, given that Emerson would clearly be their best shortstop alternative, but thrusting him into the October spotlight for his big league debut would be a tall task for the 20-year-old.