Drayer: Mariners show they have a valuable trait for October

The ALDS between the Seattle Mariners and Detroit Tigers shifted abruptly to a best-of-three with both teams trading body blows in Games 1 and 2.

Luis Castillo’s gritty outing unsung part of Mariners’ Game 2 win

The Mariners came in confident having been given the chance to rest, refresh and enjoy every advantage of home. They matched up with a Tigers team that had been on the road for 12 days, frantically trying to put the brakes on a month-long freefall.

Seattle saw that advantage crumble to dust when their offense stalled in Game 1. The momentum swing was dramatic. The Mariners were left stunned in their clubhouse on one side of T-Mobile Park, and the Tigers jubilant on the other – knowing they had the best starter in baseball, coming off perhaps his best performance of the season, going the next day with an excellent chance to take a two-nothing advantage home the next evening.

The Mariners of course returned serve, doing what they had done twice previously this season: beat the Tigers in a game started by Tarik Skubal.

Improbable? Maybe. But it was hardly the first time the Mariners won a game started by a team’s No. 1 pitcher or ace this season. They have stolen numerous opposition “win days” this year, none bigger than the one that came in the playoffs. To do it on that stage, in a “backs against the wall” situation, perhaps establishes the 2025 Mariners as a team that, while not quite ace-proof, on any given day has a good chance to be ace-neutralizing.

And what better time for that than now?

Now there are others they have come away with losses against, including Philadelphia’s Cristopher Sanchez and Jesús Luzardo and Toronto’s Kevin Gausman, who are all still in the playoffs. But throughout the season, the Mariners have racked up wins against some of the best in the game including Skubal (three times), Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes, Texas’ Nathan Eovaldi (twice) and Jacob deGrom, Boston’s Garrett Crochet, Milwaukee’s Jacob Misiorowski, Houston’s Hunter Brown, and the Yankees’ Max Fried.

There has been some debate on what is it about these matchups that have brought the best out of the Mariners, particularly when they have lost their fair share of games they were not expected to lose. Some of it no doubt is timing. They have played well in stretches and poorly in others. But there is also something to the fact that those who have been with the team for any length of time prior to this season are very familiar with playing close games, which is what you would anticipate games against top pitchers to be.

Whatever it is, we saw it Sunday night against the Tigers. A valuable skill as a team to take into the postseason when bullpens are fortified and you are likely not to face many fours or fives from a rotation.

“Win days” – days players come to the park all but knowing they will leave with a win because of the guy on the hill at the start – are harder to come by in October, as the Tigers no doubt found out Sunday.

There were two dramatic shifts of momentum in less than 24 hours in Seattle this weekend, with neither team winning the game they were favored in. Now there are three games left to sort it out.

Seattle Mariners ALDS coverage

• Why Jon Morosi still predicts Mariners to win ALDS
• Josh Naylor’s status uncertain for Mariners’ ALDS games in Detroit
• Three things we’ve learned so far from Seattle Mariners’ ALDS vs. Detroit
• After second-half tear, Julio shining on the October stage
• Updated ALDS schedule as Seattle Mariners go to Detroit for Game 3

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