Why Jon Morosi still predicts Mariners to win ALDS

Oct 6, 2025, 5:56 PM

Seattle Sports

The Seattle Mariners and Detroit Tigers opened their best-of-five American League Division Series by splitting a pair of low-scoring, razor-tight games in the Emerald City.

The Tigers struck the first blow, eking out a 3-2, 11-inning victory in Saturday night’s series opener. The Mariners rebounded on Sunday night, leveling the series with a dramatic 3-2 triumph of their own.

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After watching the white-knuckle action in person at T-Mobile Park this weekend, MLB Network’s Jon Morosi made his weekly appearance Monday on Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob.

And as he predicted before the series began, Morosi still thinks the M’s will prevail in five games.

“To me, this feels like a five-game series,” Morosi said. “I said it at the outset on Saturday: I felt like it was Mariners in five, and that’s probably where I’ll stay in terms of my prediction. I just think it’s two closely matched teams. You get a 3-2 game in Game 1, a 3-2 game the other way in Game 2. I don’t see either team scoring 10 or 13 runs like we saw Toronto score on the Yankees.

“So I think it’s gonna be tightly played and not a whole lot of comfortable pitches thrown for the balance of this series.”

Ultimately, Morosi still leans with the Mariners due to their two biggest stars: Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodríguez.

Both have already made a big mark on this series.

Raleigh, coming off a historic 60-homer season, is 4 for 9 with a double through the first two games. Rodríguez, one of MLB’s best hitters since mid-July, is 4 for 9 with a solo homer, an RBI double and an RBI single.

And most notably, the two sluggers came through in the clutch in Game 2. With the score tied at 2-2 in the eighth inning, Raleigh roped a one-out double into the right-field corner and Rodríguez followed with a go-ahead RBI double into the left-field corner that proved to be the difference in the game.

“I think the thing that stands out to me, and one of the reasons why I believe that Seattle ultimately has the upper hand, is the best two offensive players in this series are both on the Mariners, and they’re both playing well,” Morosi said. “… Two elite players who, candidly, are just better offensively than anybody on the Tigers’ roster, at least at this moment in time.

“And I think for that reason, you believe that’s gonna carry the day – especially if you’re gonna get meaningful contributions from guys like (Jorge) Polanco.”