Detroit Tigers And Seattle Mariners put on some real baseball theater Friday night during Game 5 of the American League Series. However, as events unfolded Toronto Blue Jays decided to reference another sport when describing the club's likely thoughts in a post on his official X account.
The GIF of the two boxers trading punches while the referee stands back and enjoys the spectacle sums it up perfectly.
The Tigers and Mariners played for 4 hours, 58 minutes at T-Mobile Park in Seattle before Jorge Polanco's single to right off Tommy Kahnle decided the game 3-2 and sent the 47,025 crowd into a frenzy. The 15-inning contest set the record for the longest winner-take-all game in MLB history.
“We've been talking about the fight all year,” Seattle manager Dan Wilson told reporters afterward. “To go 15 innings today, 15 rounds, so to speak, and come out on top, it’s certainly nice.”
Next up for the M's, after a champagne celebration at their home club, is an early flight Saturday to Toronto where they will face the Blue Jays in the AL Championship Series, starting with Game 1 on Sunday at 8:03 pm ET (Sportsnet and Sportsnet+).
After such a hard-fought win over the Tigers, it's hard to ignore the immediate implications for the Mariners, who used seven starting pitchers to put up 45 strikeouts. The collection of weapons was incredibly successful, with just two runs on eight hits in 15 innings, four walks and 17 strikeouts. However, five of the six pitchers pitched more than one inning, and the staff threw a total of 209 pitches, while Seattle superstar catcher Cal Raley squatted behind the plate for every pitch, illustrating how difficult the position is.
Right-hander George Kirby started the game and dominated before being retired by Wilson in the sixth inning with just 66 pitches. Kirby allowed Javy Baez to hit a leadoff double before the manager decided to bring in left-hander Gabe Speyer to face left-handed hitter Kerry Carpenter, who already had two hits off Kirby in the contest and five career homers against him, including a two-run shot in Game 1.
Carpenter went wide off Speyer and gave the Tigers a 2-1 lead with his ace. Pull Skubal on the mound in his own mesmerizing performance. The left-hander, who is potentially in contention for his second Cy Young Award, struck out 13 batters, more than any pitcher in a winner-take-all game in MLB postseason history.
However, Tigers manager AJ Hinch removed Skubal after the sixth inning, and the Mariners scored quickly in the seventh on an RBI single by Leo Rivas that knotted the game until its dramatic conclusion.
“Easy decision,” Hinch said when asked about Skubal's retirement after 99 pitches. “After the fifth, I checked on him to see how he was doing physically and emotionally, and we both knew he had one left. You know, he emptied his tank and was obviously excited coming off the mound, and I think that signaled exactly where we were in the game. He gave us everything he could.”
Wilson also asked for all he could from his pitchers, and they did. Most notably, Logan Gilbert tossed two scoreless innings and Luis Castillo added 1.1 frames. Along with Kirby, that meant the Mariners' three starting pitchers didn't appear until Game 5, a fact that would impact how the club constructed its rotation against a well-rested Blue Jays team.
We'll learn more about the Mariners' plans Saturday during ALCS practice at the Rogers Center, but there's one concern: the right-hander's status. Brian Wuwho was removed from the ALDS list due to chest inflammation. Wu threw the bullpen on Friday, and his return could provide a boost to Seattle's staff – he was the club's best starter during the regular season, leading the rotation with 4.3 wins above replacement and a 2.94 ERA over 186.2 innings.
Wu's presence will be worth keeping an eye on during the exciting ALCS, which is rife with storylines. This is a rematch of the 2022 AL Wild Card Series, in which the Mariners closed out a two-game sweep after overcoming an 8-1 deficit in the second game.
It's a terrible memory the Blue Jays would like to erase, and they'll get the chance starting this weekend. Before the Mariners turn their attention to that, however, they've earned the right to savor the moment.
“I’m a little excited because these guys are unbelievable how hard they fought tonight,” Wilson said. “We talked about it before the game and said that part of what makes them great is that they don’t want to leave the stadium until they win.
“And tonight was exactly that. They didn't want to leave the stadium until they won, and they did it.”