Mariners-Tigers tonight was one for the ages. Greatest playoff game ever? Greatest in many of our lifetimes for certain.
Go M’s!!!
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This has definitely been the best overall postseason I have seen in decades. Last night’s Tigers, M’s game was one for the awesome book.
It has been must see TV happening at a time when MLB has needed it.
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15 innings and 15 total pitchers (including 4 starters as relievers). 37 total strikeouts, including 27 in the first 9 innings and 13 for Skubal. I wish stats were kept on broken bats because there were a ton of them.
So much drama… cinematic game from start to finish. Instant classic.
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Snip from The Athletic. I wish I’d seen this game!
The longest winner-take-all playoff game ever
If you went to bed, you missed one of the best baseball games ever played. Congrats on the good night’s rest, but sorry you didn’t see the instant classic that was Game 5 of the Mariners-Tigers American League Division Series: >Seattle 3, Detroit 2, in 15 innings.
The decisive moment came on the game’s 472nd pitch. On a 3-2 count with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the 15th, Tommy Kahnle threw a changeup at the knees. Jorge Polanco roped it to right field to put the whole Pacific Northwest into a state of euphoric relief:
Detroit manager A.J. Hinch had intentionally walked Julio Rodríguez to load the bases for Polanco. Did the lack of a place to put Polanco contribute to Kahnle giving up the winning hit on a three-ball count? Reasonable people could debate it. The Tigers used eight pitchers. The Mariners used seven, including two of their starters, Logan Gilbert and Luis Castillo (who got the win). In a war of attrition, the home team won, four hours and 58 minutes after it all began.
What a spectacle this was in Seattle. Back in regulation, Tarik Skubal was sensational even by his standards for Detroit. The soon-to-be back-to-back Cy Young winner struck out 13 Mariners in six freakish innings of one-run ball, which turned out to not even comprise half the game. The Tigers’ offense came from Kerry Carpenter — a lefty who can barely hit lefties — stepping into the box against elite lefty reliever Gabe Speier and hitting the ball 411 feet to put the Tigers ahead 2-1. The Mariners quickly tied it on a single by Leo Rivas, a 28-year-old career minor leaguer who morphed into a punchy bench player this season. What a set of storylines.
Then, extra innings became an interminable parade of leadoff hitters reaching second base with nobody out and not scoring. Each team felt doomed to fall behind on several occasions, but pitchers kept escaping against all odds, until Polanco finally ended it.
All of that in a win-or-go-home game between two franchises that have played their last combined 88 seasons without winning a World Series. (The Mariners have never won it all; the Tigers last did so in 1984.) Playoff baseball, you are very good.
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Mariners v Dodgers would be a fantastic WS
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Go Cubs and/or Brewers!
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As a long suffering Jays fan (other than those two glorious years in the 90s) watching them beat down the Yankees for 35 of 36 innings was amazing.
FYI I’m also a Detroit Lions fan so apparently I pick teams to make me sad.
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I’d love to see my Dodgers vs Toronto. But we need to get past either Chicago or Milwaukee, both of which are well-managed balanced teams. I worry about them both. Also, Ohtani is in an obvious slump. He looks lost at the plate.
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That game took a toll on me! But damn what a game. ~470 pitches thrown
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Mariner ptsd is 100 x worse than Utes ptsd.
Friday My son and are laying on the floor of our cabin listening to a stream with each innning from 6 on just waiting to be let down .
Driving home Sunday listening the game in the car and waiting to be let down.
Celebrate each win for about 20 minutes then start worrying about how they are going to lose next game.
If i could unshun my pessimists side for a moment, they have a chanve to get to the world series. I believe the m’s are the only team that has not been in the series. i never thought this day could happen. resume shun
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Sunday Miller started out rough inthe first inning, then pitching 5 magnificent innings when the team needed a pitcher to eat some innings.
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I remember spring training, Mariners vs Cubs in the desert, was mostly entertained by the throngs of Cubs fans escaping winter in AZ + that Cubs celebrity guy with the loud whistle, included in tons of selfies people were taking on their trip to Cubs spring training.
That was wild…
Ronnie Woo Woo the toothless " Go Cubs guy"
just wandered around for 9 innings yelling Go cubs but it had a ring to it since he didn’t have teeth. smiled for every person that wanted a picture of him.
Spring training used to be fun then the teams started charging regualr season prices for spring training game. to quote Shoe less Joe in field of dreams " Owners!" said with derision
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Bad outcomes seem to happen in streaks. I am now fearful of the Utes outcome this Saturday.
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You’re definitely not alone here. This describes myself and virtually every other Mariners fan I know.
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John Smoltz was on the DP shoe yesterday and talked about managing in the postseason. His take was the managers who were too busy managing to the metrics of the 162 game season were losing because these series games are a sprint. Trying to get a batter extra at bats or pulling a pitcher based on pitch counts when they were rolling hurt a team’s chance of winning. Last night the Dodgers let Yamamoto throw a complete game, and the dude threw a gem. Now the Dodgers are 2-0, and have only lost one game in the postseason.
It’s actually pretty impressive.
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I think Roberts realized he shouldn’t have pulled Snell for the 9th in game 1. Roki seems like an ace in the hole to close but he was dealing.
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At least Roki got his feet wet in MLB playoff baseball. That kid looked pretty nervous. I was glad to see Trienan get his little slump behind him and finish it. At 37, he’s winding down, but we’ll need him.
My bet is we’ll need much more of the pen in 3 & 4. What Snell & Yama did was just plain crazy, unreasonable to expect that from Glasnow and Ohtani.
Heh - the postgame on TBS was pretty funny. Pedro Martinez going rogue about Yama, saying maybe he is his papi. “Maybe my name should be Pedro Yamamoto!”. Rollins and Granderson were having a good time with it.
Pretty damn funny… and probably confusing as hell to everyone in Japan.
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The offseason trades for the bullpen are going to make the league big mad.
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