Mariners choose the most agonizing way possible to make first ALCS in 24 years

History will record that for five hours on an October night in 2025, the Seattle Mariners pushed their fanbase as close to its breaking point as they possibly could. And had the experience ended in anything other than a W, you would have had to wonder if it would have been the last straw for many.

And yet, here we are — dazed, confused, and certainly exhausted, but also very much aware of the fact that the Mariners came away from Game 5 of the American League Division Series with a 3-2 win over the Detroit Tigers after 15 innings. They are going to the American League Championship Series for the first time since 2001, and the last thing anyone can say is that they didn't earn it.

Indeed, the Mariners put their fans through Hell precisely because they had to take the same route on Friday. They started the game by getting utterly dominated by Tarik Skubal, who pitched like a man possessed in striking out 13 Mariners hitters over six one-run innings. And in the nine innings after he departed, heart rates spiked and heads hit hands as Mariners pitchers wiggled out of trouble only for Mariners hitters to waste multiple golden opportunities.

The Mariners reward their fans for enduring agony in Game 5 of the ALDS

There was something about it all that just felt so...familiar.

The Mariners don't have a long history of playoff failures, yet the simple fact that they have only played in October six times pretty much makes failure one of the franchise's defining themes. Another is the contrast with how many talented teams the Mariners have had over the last 30 years, up to and including this one. Had the 2025 Mariners won 90 games and the AL West title only to not make it out of the first round of the playoffs, well, that's just Mariners baseball, isn't it?

But not on Friday. As much as it looked like it would be the case for most of the game's five-hour run time, suddenly there was Jorge Polanco calling game with a nice, clean single through the right side with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 15th.

It's not quite Edgar Martínez doubling home Joey Cora and Ken Griffey Jr. back in Game 5 of the 1995 ALDS — happy anniversary, by the way — but it's as close as the Mariners have come to matching the sheer joy of that fateful hit in the 30 years since it happened.

Unlike the 1995 squad, these Mariners did not have to overcome a 13.0-game deficit and win a tiebreaker just to get into the playoffs, much less subsequently climb out of an 0-2 hole in the Division Series. But they did have to win two games started by Skubal within the same series, which was always going to be hard enough even if the second attempt hadn't resulted in the longest winner-take-all game in MLB playoff history.

Polanco is not the only hero of the story of how the Mariners made it happen. There is not enough praise to heap on a pitching staff that allowed just two runs on eight hits and four walks in 15 innings. And while we can debate whether he made the right call in the sixth inning when he lifted George Kirby for Gabe Speier — spoiler alert: Kerry Carpenter did the same thing he did in Game 1 — Dan Wilson nailed it in the seventh when he pinch-hit Dominic Canzone for Mitch Garver, only to then pinch-hit Leo Rivas for Canzone after Tigers manager A.J. Hinch called for a lefty. It bordered on being too cute by half, but it worked, darn it.

That it was not name-brand stars like Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodríguez and Randy Arozarena who led the Mariners over the Tigers is simultaneously the bad news and the good news. The bad, because it's hard to imagine the Mariners going any further without more from those guys. The good, because they got to show how deep their roster goes.

The reasons for optimism extend even further, specifically to Bryan Woo and his status for the ALCS. After he had to sit out the Division Series with a pec injury, the Mariners are optimistic that the All-Star ace will be available for the next round against the Toronto Blue Jays.

With Game 1 of the ALCS set for Sunday in Toronto, the Mariners have precious little time to gather themselves before they have to play ball again. But they can and should celebrate as much as they want in the meantime, for the gift they gave their fans on Friday was badly needed and well received.

For hour after hour after hour, it didn't look like the Mariners had it in them. But when Polanco's ball found paydirt, the message was clear: Hell yes, we do.