Another clutch Polanco HR helps Mariners go up 2-0 on Blue Jays in ALCS

Oct 13, 2025, 5:31 PM | Updated: 7:11 pm

Editor, Seattle Sports

It is the October of Jorge Polanco, and the Seattle Mariners are now closer to a World Series than they’ve ever been in team history because of it.

Polanco continued his amazingly clutch postseason with a three-run home run in the fifth inning of Game 2 of the ALDS on Monday, breaking a tie with the Toronto Blue Jays to help lift the M’s to a 10-3 victory.

Seattle Mariners 10, Toronto Blue Jays 3: Instant Reaction | Box score

The Mariners now lead the best-of-seven ALCS 2-0 after wins in each of the first two games at Toronto’s Rogers Centre, leaving open the possibility for them to clinch the American League championship at T-Mobile Park in Seattle. That could come as soon as Game 4 on Thursday if the Mariners can sweep, or a potential Game 5 on Friday.

This is the first time ever the Mariners have led 2-0 in the ALCS. The closest they previously came to a World Series spot was when they took a 2-1 lead in the 1995 ALCS against Cleveland.

Polanco is cementing himself as one of the greatest postseason players to ever wear a Mariners uniform, coming up big time and time again when the M’s need a run.

On Monday, that came with a pair of runners on and one out, and Blue Jays reliever Louie Varland trying to keep them from coming around and breaking a 3-3 tie.

But Polanco sent those runners along with himself home with a 400-foot shot over the tall wall in right-center – much higher than Gold Glove Blue Jays center fielder Daulton Varsho could reach.

JORGE POLANCO IS JUST RIDICULOUS! #ALCS pic.twitter.com/vkairlteWX

— MLB (@MLB) October 13, 2025

The Mariners had jumped out to a 3-0 lead before making an out Monday on a three-run Julio Rodríguez homer, but the Blue Jays answered with two runs in the bottom of the first and another in the second to tie things up.

Watch: Mariners grab early ALCS Game 2 lead on Julio’s 3-run HR

Polanco was the offensive hero in Sunday’s 3-1 Mariners win in Toronto, delivering a pair of RBI singles, the first of which gave Seattle the lead.

He was huge in the Mariners’ five-game ALDS win over the Detroit Tigers, too. He had two solo home runs against reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal in a Game 2 victory, then had the walk-off RBI single in the 15th inning of Seattle’s series-clinching win last Friday.

Polanco added another hit Monday and scored another run as a result, as first baseman Josh Naylor followed up by ripping a two-run homer in his native Ontario to push Seattle’s lead to 9-3 in the seventh inning.

The 32-year-old Polanco raised his numbers in this postseason to a .258 average and .851 OPS, which don’t really do justice to how much damage he’s done in October. He now has eight RBIs in the playoffs, which is third in the league, and his three homers are tied for second. Per MLB’s Sarah Langs, Polanco has now tied Ken Griffey Jr. (1995) for the most go-ahead plate appearances in a single postseason by a Mariners player at four.

Based on Polanco’s 2025 regular season, it really shouldn’t be a surprise that he keeps coming up big. He led MLB in Fangraphs’ Clutch statistic that measures how well a player performs in high-leverage situations.

Game 3 of the ALCS will be at 5:08 p.m. Wednesday. Radio coverage on Seattle Sports will begin at 2 p.m. with extended pregame, while the TV broadcast will be on FS1.