Mariners will face either Guardians or Tigers in ALDS

Sep 28, 2025, 2:49 PM | Updated: 5:09 pm

Seattle Sports

The Seattle Mariners will face either the Cleveland Guardians or the Detroit Tigers in the American League Division Series.

That became official with the Boston Red Sox’s 4-3 win over Detroit on Sunday afternoon, which allowed Cleveland to clinch the American League Central title and the AL’s No. 3 seed. The Tigers will be the AL’s No. 6 seed.

The AL West champion Mariners (90-72) had already locked up the AL’s No. 2 seed.

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Cleveland (88-74) will host Detroit (87-75) in the best-of-three AL wild card round, which begins on Tuesday. The winner of that series will then travel to T-Mobile Park to face the Mariners in the best-of-five ALDS, which begins on Saturday, Oct. 4.

On the other half of the AL bracket, the Toronto Blue Jays (94-68) won the AL East title and earned the AL’s top seed by virtue of their head-to-head tiebreaker over the New York Yankees. The No. 4 seed Yankees (94-68) will host the No. 5 seed Red Sox (89-73) in the wild-card round, with the winner advancing to face Toronto in the ALDS.

The stage is set!

Your 2025 #Postseason bracket 🤩 pic.twitter.com/FrP4HP6ePm

— MLB (@MLB) September 28, 2025

Cleveland’s comeback and Detroit’s collapse

The Mariners’ two potential ALDS opponents are headed in polar opposite directions.

Detroit was an MLB-best 59-34 on July 8 and held a 14-game lead atop the AL Central at that point, including a 15.5-game lead over Cleveland. The Tigers still held a 9.5-game lead over Cleveland on Sept. 10, but it all unraveled after that, as they lost 11 of their next 12 games to open the door for the Guardians. Detroit is 28-41 since its high-water mark in July.

Cleveland, meanwhile, capitalized on the Tigers’ collapse with a historic comeback. After sitting at 40-48 on July 6 and at 69-70 on Sept. 4, the Guardians closed on an MLB-best 19-4 tear to snatch the AL Central crown from Detroit. By overcoming a 15.5-game deficit, Cleveland made the largest comeback to win a division title in MLB history.

How the M’s fared against both teams

The Mariners went 4-2 against both the Guardians and Tigers this season. Seattle swept Cleveland at home on June 13-15 and dropped two of three to the Guardians on the road on Aug. 29-31. Meanwhile, the M’s dropped two of three to Detroit at home on March 31-April 2 and then emphatically swept the Tigers on the road on July 11-13, scoring a combined 35 runs over the three-game set.

Mariners ALDS schedule

• Game 1 – Saturday, Oct. 4, at T-Mobile Park
• Game 2 – Sunday, Oct. 5, at T-Mobile Park
• Game 3 – Tuesday, Oct. 7, at Cleveland or Detroit
• Game 4 – Wednesday, Oct. 8, at Cleveland or Detroit (if necessary)
• Game 5 – Friday, Oct. 10, at T-Mobile Park (if necessary)

NOTE: Game times will be announced later by MLB.