MLB division series: Top moments, analysis for Tigers-Mariners Game 5

Now THAT was October baseball.

In the 15th inning of a win-or-go-home American League Division Series Game 5, the Seattle Mariners walked it off against the Detroit Tigers to advance to their first American League Championship Series since 2001.

Jorge Polanco hit a single to score J.P. Crawford and secure the 3-2 win in front of a packed T-Mobile Park in Seattle on Friday night. The Mariners will face the Toronto Blue Jays for the AL pennant, with Game 1 in Toronto on Sunday at 8:03 p.m. ET.

We've got you covered with the top moments and a by-the-numbers breakdown of today's game, as well as takeaways after the final out.

Takeaways

Seattle Mariners 3, Detroit Tigers 2

Seattle wins series 3-2

This was the Tarik Skubal game. This was the Leo Rivas game. This, at one point, definitely looked like the Kerry Carpenter game. It was the Will Vest game and the Logan Gilbert game and the game where Eduard Bazardo escaped a jam and Keider Montero escaped a jam and Jack Flaherty escaped a jam. At 15 innings, it was the longest winner-take-all game in postseason history.

Thirty years ago, it was The Double -- Edgar Martinez's walk-off hit for the Mariners to beat the Yankees in extra innings of Game 5 of the ALDS. In 2025, it was The Single or The Game That Wouldn't End or just the Jorge Polanco game, with the Mariners' second baseman finally winning it with a bases-loaded single on a full count in the bottom of the 15th inning. It was an epic postseason contest, an instant classic, with J.P. Crawford, the longest-tenured Mariner, scoring the winning run.

There were 37 strikeouts, many missed opportunities, multiple starting pitchers coming on in relief, Luis Castillo getting the win after making the first relief appearance of his career. It took everybody. It lasted forever. At one point, the cameras flashed to crying Mariners fans -- in the seventh inning -- after Rivas' pinch-hit single tied the score (on his 28th birthday, in his first career postseason at-bat).

The Mariners still had to win it. Eventually, they did -- and now they're in the ALCS for the first time since 2001.

We can't ignore Skubal, who delivered a historic performance for the Tigers, striking out 13 batters -- the most ever in a winner-take-all playoff game. The only run off of him came on a Josh Naylor emergency-swing double to left field, followed by Naylor swiping third base -- don't be surprised, he had 30 on the season -- and scoring on a sacrifice fly. As helpless as the Mariners were against Skubal's changeup, they did manage to hit 27 foul balls and drive Skubal from the game after six innings and 99 pitches. Tip of the cap to a great pitcher who had a great postseason. He just didn't get quite enough help from his teammates.

Remarkably, he faced the Mariners four times this season -- and the Mariners won all four games. Baseball. -- David Schoenfield

Game 5 by the numbers

Courtesy of ESPN Research

• The Mariners became the first team to have multiple pitchers make their first career relief appearance (reg. season or playoffs) in the same playoff game in MLB history.

• This is the first playoff game to go 14-plus innings since the Astros and Mariners played an 18-inning game at T-Mobile Park in the 2022 ALDS. That was tied for the longest postseason game of all time.

• This is the first winner-take-all playoff game to go 14-plus innings. The Rockies and Cubs went 13 innings in the 2018 National League wild-card game.

• At 4 hours and 58 minutes, this is now the longest winner-take-all game by real time in MLB history.

In total, the teams used 15 pitchers, who combined for 37 strikeouts and 472 pitches (304 strikes).

Top moments from Seattle

Jorge Polanco walks it off in the 15th to secure the win for Seattle!