Mariners' most impressive playoff statistic isn't what you think it is

These playoffs have been an absolute riot for the Seattle Mariners and their fans, with the team standing just two more wins away from a first ever AL Pennant and a trip to the World Series. It's been a magical run which has created a whole host of memorable moments in the Pacific Northwest.

The pitching staff has been inspirational, particularly Logan Gilbert twice gutting it out with appearances on short rest and Eduard Bazardo coming out of the bullpen in all but two of the Mariners' playoff games. Offensively, Cal Raleigh is just continuing to do Cal Raleigh things as highlighted by a 1.104 OPS, while Jorge Polanco is fast becoming the modern day version of Mr. October with game-winning hits and even making Tarik Skubal look mortal.

However, we would contend that the most impressive playoff stat by these Mariners is for something that's taken place OFF the field, connected to this postseason averaging the highest viewership in the United States in 15 years. As per ESPN, viewership averaged 4.33 million through the division series for a 30 percent increase over last year and the best since 2010.

For the Division Series round specifically, viewership was at its highest since 2011 with an average of 4.17 million, which also represented an increase of 17 percent over last year. And it turns out the Mariners along with the Detroit Tigers are a big part of the reason for this success;

In particular, last Friday's 15-inning thriller between the Mariners and Tigers averaged 8.72 million viewers on Fox, Fox Deportes and streaming, with the M's eventually going on to win 3-2. This became the most-watched divisional series game on Fox since 2011, when the Tigers beat the New York Yankees in another deciding Game 5 and averaged 9.72 million.

Certainly this is well-deserved for one of the best baseball games in recent memory. Although we'll be the first to admit objectively that this is also still somewhat surprising, with this not exactly being on the same level as the Yankees and Boston Red Sox.

Why are the Mariners suddenly so popular among baseball fans?

This leads to wondering why so many people tuned in, aside from the aforementioned reference to viewership being up across the board with MLB playoff games in general. One thing which definitely helped is that the clash between the Mariners and Tigers last Friday was the only major game that day, with no competition from the NFL, NHL or regular season NBA.

There was more to it as well though, with baseball and sports fans in general likely wanting to get a look at Skubal, who is arguably the best pitcher in the game and expected to win a second consecutive AL Cy Young Award. Throw in curiosity surrounding both teams and word of mouth once the game got good, and it does make a lot of sense why viewership was so impressive.

Whatever the reason, the Mariners and Tigers gave everyone who tuned in one heck of a show, with the longest ever winner-takes-all playoff game in Major League history. It will be interesting to find out what the viewership numbers will be for the AL Championship Series versus the Toronto Blue Jays, although we appreciate this will be impacted by a huge percentage of the audience being north of the border in Canada.