3 things we’ve learned so far from Seattle Mariners’ ALDS vs Detroit

The Seattle Mariners bounced back from a gut punch of a loss in Game 1 of their American League Division Series with Sunday’s exciting 3-2 victory in Game 2 over the Detroit Tigers.

T-Mobile Park hosting Mariners watch parties for ALDS Games 3-4

With the best-of-five series now shifting to Detroit’s Comerica Park for Game 3 at 1:08 p.m. Tuesday, here are three things that the first two games of the ALDS showed us.

Andrés Muñoz and Gabe Speier are bringing it.

The Mariners’ bullpen went above and beyond this weekend, holding the Tigers to just three runs (two earned) over 10 1/3 innings in Game 1 and Game 2 combined.

Two pitchers – who just happen to be Seattle’s best relievers – were leaned on the most by the M’s, and they stand out the most as a result.

Left-hander Gabe Speier faced four batters on Saturday, and four batters on Sunday. The Tigers are still looking for their first baserunner against him, because Speier has thrown 2 2/3 scoreless, hitless innings in the series with no walks and four strikeouts.

Speier handled stressful situations both nights. He kept the Tigers from taking the lead in a 2-2 game Saturday, throwing a perfect seventh inning and then getting the first out in the eighth. And on Sunday, he was called upon with two on and two out in the top of the fifth with Detroit slugger Kerry Carpenter at the plate. He struck Carpenter out, then stayed in to throw a perfect sixth inning.

Two-time All-Star closer Andrés Muñoz was even busier. He gave the Mariners spotless ninth and 10th innings Saturday with two strikeouts, and even after throwing 25 pitches in Game 1 came out to get a 14-pitch save in the ninth inning on Sunday.

Combined, Speier and Muñoz have thrown 5 2/3 innings of perfect baseball so far in this series. That’s stepping up in October.

The @Mariners get their first home #Postseason victory in 24 years! #ALDS pic.twitter.com/PBLVXTI0er

— MLB (@MLB) October 6, 2025

The Mariners have (mostly) handled Kerry Carpenter and Riley Greene.

If there’s one thing from the first two games of the ALDS the Mariners would like to do over, it’s the at-bat from the fifth inning Saturday where Carpenter hit a home run off of Seattle starter George Kirby for the fifth time in his career.

Carpenter is a big worry for the M’s in this series, as is fellow lefty-hitting Tigers outfielder Riley Greene. Both mash right-handed pitching, and the Mariners’ entire staff except for Speier and fellow reliever Caleb Ferguson is right-handed. So it’s no surprise they both have alarmingly successful career numbers against Seattle.

After getting burned Saturday, Mariners manager Dan Wilson was more aggressive in his deployment of Speier to neutralize the threat of Detroit’s two best hitters. And in general, the M’s have done a good job preventing Carpenter and Greene from doing damage.

Carpenter is 1 for 8 so far in the series, as he was 0 for 3 with a walk in Game 2. As for Greene, he’s 2 for 9 with two singles and a run scored – and that run was only because he reached on an error Sunday.

The Mariners’ chances of winning the ALDS are exponentially better if they keep Carpenter and Greene from driving in runs.

T-Mobile Park in October is a brutal hitting environment.

In Game 1, the Mariners and Tigers combined for five runs (over 11 innings). In Game 2, they again combined for five runs.

And you may remember the previous playoff game that Seattle’s T-Mobile Park hosted: the 1-0 Mariners loss in 18 innings to the Houston Astros in Game 3 of the 2022 ALDS.

The math on that: three games, 38 innings, 11 runs – and remember, one of those runs was unearned. The combined ERA for the Mariners and their opponent in those games is a minuscule 2.37. That’s a lower ERA than all but the top two pitchers in baseball had during the 2025 regular season, and lower than any qualified pitcher in 2024.

MLB’s Sarah Langs shared a stat Sunday night that further highlights just how impossible offense is to come by in Seattle in October.

T-Mobile Park has seen 8 straight playoff games (since 2001) where the 2 teams combined for 6 or fewer runs

That’s the longest such streak at any venue, breaking a tie at 7 with:

Tropicana Field 2008–10
Baltimore Memorial Stadium 1979–83
Yankee Stadium 1956–58

h/t @MLBNetwork…

— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) October 6, 2025

We already know T-Mobile Park is easily the most pitcher-friendly and hitter-unfriendly stadium in baseball, per Statcast’s Park Factor metric, and it suppresses offense even more in the colder months early in the season. It only makes sense that it would be just as tough now that it’s officially fall in the Pacific Northwest, especially with playoff-caliber pitchers on the mound.

At least things will be easier on the bats in Detroit – maybe. Comerica Park also has long had a reputation as a haven for pitchers due to featuring one of the biggest outfields in MLB, and the temperatures in Detroit this week are predicted to be perhaps even a bit colder than they’ve been in Seattle. That big outfield means there’s a lot more space than T-Mobile Park has for hits to drop in, though.

More Seattle Mariners ALDS coverage

• The updated ALDS schedule as Mariners go to Detroit for Game 3
• Jorge Polanco’s heroics help Mariners even series with Detroit
• After second-half tear, Julio shining on the October stage
• Mariners Instant Reaction: MLB insider Jon Morosi on Game 2 win
• Polanco’s big game is two great signs in one for Seattle Mariners

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