Logan Gilbert rewards Mariners' ingenuity to put Mariners on doorstep of ALCS

The Seattle Mariners are one win away from the last stop before the World Series, and they can credit whoever had the vision of Logan Gilbert starting Game 3 of the ALDS in Detroit.

Gilbert certainly had help in leading the Mariners to an 8-4 win over the Tigers, particularly from the very same lineup stalwarts who had gone AWOL in the first two games of the series. But for the most part, even a nearly three-hour rain delay couldn't stop Tuesday's proceedings from turning into a showcase for "Walter."

Gilbert and his fiery alter ego needed only 85 pitches to get through six one-run innings, in which he allowed only four hits with no walks. He struck out seven, with the last coming on a splitter that had the righty strutting off the mound.

This is the part where we must pull the crow out of the oven and bite right into it. We didn't think the starting rotation that Jerry Dipoto, Dan Wilson and the rest of the Mariners' brass had chosen for the ALDS was going to work. It felt overthought. Too cute by half, even.

Rarely does being so thoroughly wrong about something feel this good.

The Mariners' unexpected ALDS rotation has paid off in a huge way

Even if there are many who share in the credit — Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodríguez joined the chat in Game 2, and Raleigh piled on with his first homer of the series in Game 3 — for the Mariners being one win away from the American League Championship Series, it's the starting rotation that has done the hard work of silencing Detroit's offense:

• George Kirby, Game 1: 5.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 8 K
• Luis Castillo, Game 2: 4.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 3 K
• Logan Gilbert, Game 3: 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 7 K

That's a 1.78 ERA right there, and really the only series lowlight for these three is Kerry Carpenter's game-turning homer off Kirby in Game 1. And even that isn't inexcusable, as Kirby shouldn't have been out there and he didn't even throw Carpenter a bad pitch.

With Bryan Woo unable to go at all because of his pec injury, the idea of leading with Kirby and Castillo was intuitive in that it spared both from pitching on the road, where each had an ERA in the neighborhood of 5.00 during the regular season. But then again, so did Gilbert, and holding him until Game 3 meant that he would only be able to start once in the series.

What Gilbert nonetheless proved in Game 3 was that he was the perfect guy to suck momentum out of Comerica Park as soon as the home-plate ump told him to play ball. He's a swing-and-miss pitcher, and the Tigers have a swing-and-miss offense. The script practically wrote itself, as Gilbert tallied 16 whiffs and made big pitches in all the right spots. The Detroit crowd had little to cheer for until the ninth inning, when a late rally by the Tigers died before it could do any damage.

With a series lead in hand, the Mariners will turn to Bryce Miller to start Game 4, though he'll more likely only be the opener for a "Johnny Wholestaff" bullpen game. His 5.68 ERA gives off an unmistakable ominous vibe, especially with Tarik Skubal looming if Detroit can force a Game 5 in Seattle.

The message in the air either way is that the Mariners are, in fact, capable of overwhelming the competition with starting pitching again. It was the case throughout 2024, but not really in 2025 until M's starters ranked fifth in the league in ERA in September. Even without Woo, they're staying on that roll.

And with just one more win, they'll get to see if the roll can last all the way to the first World Series in franchise history.