Final Thoughts: Mariners Found Long Path to Victory During Instant Classic Game 5
SEATTLE, Wash. — Such a game has not been played in the Third Millennium. The emotional firestorm the city of Seattle went through—from hope to dread to exhaustion to resignation to ecstasy and then all five simultaneously—was a collective mental conflagration that is perhaps indescribable, in that it must be experienced to be truly known.
It would have been relatively unremarkable (as far as ALDS Game 5 victories go) had Kerry Carpenter not hit a sixth-inning go-ahead homer for the Tigers, just as it would have been a nine-inning 2-1 win had Julio Rodríguez delivered an accurate throw to second on Javier Báez’ preceding double. Had Josh Naylor not gotten himself halfway to third base before a Tarik Skubal pitch and subsequently swiped third base, Mitch Garver’s ensuing sacrifice would have been an unremarkable flyout and the Mariners would have fallen 2-1. So too would that have been the case if Leo Rivas, a name few outside the Northwest had ever heard, had not knocked Jorge Polanco home in the bottom of the seventh to knot the ballgame in a stasis that would last seven more frames, or had Tigers manager A. J. Hinch kept a dominant Tarik Skubal in the ballgame for that inning despite a high pitch count.
Had the Mariners capitalized on a leadoff double from Victor Robles, the game would have ended in the 10th. Had the Tigers taken advantage of Cal Raleigh’s first passed ball since Aug. 18, 2024, the game would have ended in the 11th. Had Eugenio Suárez not been perfectly placed to gun down Zach McKinstry at the plate—or had the M’s been able to get Leo Rivas home from second with nobody out—the game would have ended in the 12th. Had Seattle been able to get someone home after two leadoff walks, it would have ended in the 13th. Had Detroit knocked Dillon Dingler home after a one-out double, the 14th would have been the final frame.
But it was the 15th inning when one side finally won, and the other side finally lost. It didn’t happen quick: the conclusion of the game came after two double plays, a play at the plate, five starting pitchers and 10 relievers used between the two teams, heroics from both the expected and unexpected, and the very first victory for Humpy the Salmon in the very first nightcap of an impromptu Mariners salmon run doubleheader. That last event occurred just before the magical half-inning, as Tommy Kahnle took the mound and immediately gave the Mariners yet another opportunity, giving up a single to J.P. Crawford before hitting Randy Arozarena with a pitch. Cal Raleigh moved Crawford to third with a sacrifice fly and Arozarena scampered to second on a bad throw. Detroit put Rodríguez on first to face Polanco and set up a potential double play.
Even then, the moment drew itself out. The count worked full, Kahnle keeping low in the zone but missing the zone more than he made it. The Tigers were drawn in towards the infield grass in spite of this grounder-heavy strategy, foregoing the standard double play for one involving an out at home. In all the chess moves between A.J. Hinch and Dan Wilson, this may have been the blunder that flew under the radar. Had Gleyber Torres been deep towards the outfield grass, Polanco’s ground ball would have done nothing but end the third of four Mariner innings with a double-up.
As soon as it touched the outfield grass, T-Mobile Park erupted. Almost five myriad times had almost five myriad souls been sure it was all over, and almost five myriad souls had been proven wrong for almost the 50,000th time.
“What you guys keep doing is special. It’s powerful,” a hoarse, raspy Dan Wilson yelled out to his team after the long-fought triumph. “You’ve changed this team, you’ve changed this organization, and you’ve changed this city!”
Bags hung under Wilson’s eyes and above buoyant red cheeks as he addressed the media after the celebration, the exhaustion of his whole team worn on his face as the victor’s joy still beamed in his expression.
“It makes me a little emotional because these guys are unbelievable, just how much they fought tonight,” Wilson said. “We talked about it before the game, part of what makes them great is they don’t want to leave the ballpark ‘til they win.”
There are games where teams empty the tank, and then there are games like Friday night. The Seattle Mariners used three starting pitchers to get the win. Bryan Woo is expected to make his return in the middle of the ALCS, but before then, it’s very likely that the starter in Game 1 will be Bryce Miller before Luis Castillo takes the mound in Game 2, on short rest from the first relief stint of his career. And it wasn’t like the rest of the relievers had normal games, either. Matt Brash went two full innings, Andrés Muñoz logged four outs after walking the first two guys he faced, and Eduard Bazardo just about threw his arm off in a stint that lasted nearly 40 pitches over almost three innings.
“You can’t say enough about the bullpen and the two starters that we had there in the bullpen,” Wilson said. “Taking the ball and running with it, not wanting to come out of the game, wanting to keep throwing pitches and keep throwing innings.”
After a certain point—probably once both the Mariners and Tigers had tapped their starting rotation—the game began to resemble something like the final war between the Romans and Persians, when both ancient superpowers exhausted themselves so utterly over their 26 years of fighting that the victor ended up far too exhausted for the fights ahead. But like the host of Heraclius in view of the millennium-old ruins of Nineveh, there is no current care given to the ALCS’ looming Blue Jays in the streets of Seattle and in the celebratory dugout beside first base in T-Mobile Park.
“Best day ever!” remarked a champagne-drenched Leo Rivas, whose heroics came on his 28th birthday. “We feel like we—we’re gonna make it. We’ve got to keep going with the energy, and that’s it.”
One could say that the M’s faced a far diminished Tigers team and had to pull out quite literally every stop in order to win; one could also argue that the team outlasted a drought at the plate nearly as severe as the one that ended their previous playoff run. The morning may bring more reflection and preparation as the M’s look ahead to the Canadian juggernaut, but under the Friday night lights, the instant classic fell Seattle’s way—and that’s all that matters for now.