Stayin’ Alive: Seattle advances to the ALCS after 15 inning marathon

In a game that felt like it would go on forever, a game that felt the weight of the city on it’s shoulders ended in jubilation. The Seattle Mariners are back in the American League Championship Series after a thrilling 3-2 win over the Detroit Tigers in 15 long, laborious innings.

So far this season there have been big games, but none would be bigger than Game 5. Win-or-go home. Survive and advance. Since the disappointment and dismantling of the Mariners pitching staff in the 9-3 on Wednesday, the feeling around the T-Mobile Park was genuine tension and nervousness.

A land was waiting ahead of this 2025 Seattle ball club. A land that has evaded them for over 20 years and the search is now over as the Mariners are back in the ALCS for just the fourth time in franchise history.

“It makes me a little emotional because these guys are unbelievable just how much they fought tonight. We talked about it before the game, part of them that makes them great is they don’t want to leave the ballpark until they win and tonight was that,” Skipper Dan Wilson said.

With the bases loaded and no outs, Jorge Polanco stepped to the plate for the third time in extra innings and he sent T-Mobile Park into a frenzy. He took a 3-2 pitch from Tommy Khanle into right field for his first ever postseason walk off hit.

“I was just trying to get a good pitch to hit. I know he’s got a good change up, he throws a lot of changeups. He’s got a fastball in there. But yeah like I said I was trying to get a good pitch to hit and try to drive the runner from third,” Polanco said.

”I didn’t hear much. The crowd was very loud, I am happy for the fans.”

Wilson talked about even the fans resilience through all 4 hours and 58 minutes.”I gotta say, I don’t know how the fans kept their energy going. It was unbelievable loud even in the 15th inning. T-Mobile Park is a special place and they showed us that tonight. Just an incredible ball game,” Dan Wilson said.

Detroit had their horse on the bump in Tarik Skubal for the second time this series. Skubal pitched back on Oct. 5 in Game 2, a game that the Mariners won 3-2. The Mariners had had success against Skubal all season, holding a 3-0 record over Skubal in 2025. But win number four was far and away, the most important.

The Mariners had George Kirby taking the hill for his biggest game of his career. The righty from Rye, NY matched the Cy Young hopeful on Friday night and was exactly what Dan Wilson expected him to be.

George Kirby set the table, striking out six Tigers through five innings and allowed just three hits.

Just as they had in Game 2 against Skubal, the Mariners struck first thanks to the brilliance of Josh Naylor. The Mariners first basement doubled to right center and proceeded to steal third with one out in the second inning.

Mitch Garver followed Naylor with another productive at-bat hitting a deep fly ball to right field to score Naylor.

Behind Kirby’s excellence on the mound, the Mariners rode a 1-0 lead until the sixth inning. A batter in Kerry Carpenter will live in the minds of Mariners fans for a long time. Does the starter pitch to him a third time or do they leave it to the bullpen?

Wilson elected to bring in Gabe Speier to face Carpenter with one on and no outs in the fifth. Carpenter took the second pitch he saw from Speier deep to right center for his second go-ahead home run on the road in this series. Carpenter saw a 95 mph fastball center-cut from the Mariner lefty and hushed the 47,025 person crowd.

In the seventh, Jorge Polanco reached base on a one-out walk, a Naylor single put the tying run in scoring position. Wilson, a self-admitted non chess player sent Dominic Canzone up to hit for Garver. This caused Tiger skipper A.J. Hinch to bring in left-handed pitcher Tyler Holten. This triggered Wilson to bring in Leo Rivas who played 66 games in Tacoma this season.

Rivas was in the batting cages staying lose when Bench Coach Manny Acta approached him to let him know he was going in the game. Rivas thought he was going to run for Polanco who was on second base. But what awaited Rivas was much more.

Rivas took a changeup from Holten to left field to score Polanco and tie the game at 2-2. “He’s one of those guys that is always prepared,” Polanco said.

“He puts together such a good at-bat and he waits for a good pitch. He got a pitch and put a really good swing on it. When you’re not in there regularly, that is a difficult task. He was up to the task,” Wilson said.

“It was a very special day for him and I am glad he got that at-bat and delivered in a big moment,” Polanco added.

It was also Rivas’ 28th birthday and to cash in for a moment like that, on his birthday was a special experience for everybody involved. “Best day ever. Since I woke up today, I said today is gonna be a good day. It’s been so far a good day,” Rivas said.

The game would reach a stalemate for another seven innings.

Logan Gilbert came out of the bullpen for the first time in his professional career. The last time Gilbert came out of the bullpen was his sophomore year at Stetson University against Jacksonville University.

“I was spraying the ball in the bullpen. I was fired up. It was a crazy moment, I honestly had to try and breathe and settle myself down. But once they played my music and I came out of the bullpen, you can’t settle down. You just gotta let it eat,” Logan Gilbert said.

Gilbert recorded a pair of strikeouts and allowed two hits and a walk before exiting the game for Eduard Bazardo after his two innings of work.

Just because the game ended how it ended, Bazardo will be a mere memory. But his performance was exceptional. Bazardo threw a career high 2.2 innings, allowed one hit while striking out five. Gilbert was singing his praises postgame.

“So many guys stepped up. Bazardo got me out of a huge jam there, but like I said early a ton of credit to Kirby. He was lights out from the get-go. He deserves a lot of credit,” Gilbert said.

Even Luis Castillo got in on the action pitching 1.1 innings and received the win. “You can’t say enough about the bullpen even the two starters that we had out there in the bullpen. They just took the ball and were running with it and not wanting to come out of the game and keep throwing pitches,” Wilson said.

But the man of the hour, Jorge Polanco stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded in the 15th inning and instantaneously sent the Mariners to a place they haven’t been in a long time.

When a game goes 15 innings, no one man is the hero. This win was a collective, collaborative effort. It took nearly every player available and embodied the all hands on deck cliche that gets thrown around in games like this.

But this Mariner team did it, they conquered Skubal for a fourth time. The conquered postseason extra inning woes. Now they head to Toronto where the Blue Jays are rested and ready to go to war with Seattle and exercise some postseason demons that will no doubt hang over the heads of the city of Toronto.