HOUSTON -- The Mariners will roll with the same roster they carried through the AL Wild Card round into the AL Division Series. The club unveiled its 26-man contingent ahead of Game 1, including 12 pitchers and 14 position players, though it wasn’t as simple as "if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it."

The Mariners considered making adjustments to their pitching staff given the quirky schedule of this best-of-five round, with an off-day Wednesday between Games 1 and 2, then no off-days the rest of the way. 

“We just felt [good] where we're at -- and this series being a little bit different with the off-days,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “And then we don't play back-to-back days here and then have an off-day and then three in a row. So having the extra off-days played into the fact that we decided to keep it the same, 14 position players and 12 pitchers.”

The lone decision that was curious was not including Chris Flexen, who had the best success -- by far -- of any Seattle starter in the regular season against the Astros, with a 2.70 ERA in five outings while holding them to a .202/.285/.312 (.597 OPS) slash line. Yet Flexen’s role shifted to the bullpen in early August, coinciding with the Mariners' acquisition of Luis Castillo ahead of the Trade Deadline.

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Flexen likely would have been deployed only in games in which the Mariners were trailing, so they instead opted to keep their relievers intact for those moments since they’re accustomed to pitching in leverage.

Flexen, who is on the taxi squad, stretched out to four innings in his final regular-season outing, an abbreviated start of a doubleheader, but he was admittedly taxed towards the end. Marco Gonzales was the other option to move to the bullpen at the time, but the Mariners felt his stuff didn’t play as well in relief, so their logic wasn’t going to change now with the season on the line.

Adding a pitcher would have involved subtracting a position player, either an outfielder (which would have brought the Mariners down to only three) or the third catcher (which they’re carrying in part in case Cal Raleigh’s sore left thumb flares up). So while this composition all looks the same as their two-game sweep in the AL Wild Card Series, there was more thorough calculus in the decision-making than it might appear.

“We were certainly looking at everybody that's been a part of our club all year long and trying to put the best roster together no matter how all the pieces fit,” Servais said. “We discussed a number of different things.”

Here is the Mariners' complete ALDS roster:

Catchers: Curt Casali, Cal Raleigh, Luis Torrens

First base: Ty France, Carlos Santana

Second base: Adam Frazier

Shortstop: J.P. Crawford

Third base: Eugenio Suárez

Utility: Dylan Moore, Abraham Toro

Outfielders: Mitch Haniger, Jarred Kelenic, Julio Rodríguez, Taylor Trammell

Starting pitchers: Luis Castillo, Robbie Ray, Logan Gilbert, George Kirby

Relief pitchers: Matthew Boyd, Matt Brash, Diego Castillo, Matt Festa, Andrés Muñoz, Penn Murfee, Paul Sewald, Erik Swanson