Sometimes it’s not about a team’s mettle” or “fortitude” or ability to “battle till the end.”
It’s not about pixie dust or destiny or any other movie-script cliché.
Sometimes, it’s just about a team’s best players saying, “Get out of the way — we got this.” Game 2 of the American League Division Series on Sunday night proved as much.
When the Detroit Tigers tied the score in the eighth inning vs. the Mariners, Seattle’s‘ night nearly morphed into nightmare. A 2-0 Seattle lead had vanished, and a 2-0 hole in the series looked imminent. Then, Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodríguez — The Mariners’ Everest and K2 — came along and saved the season in a 3-2 win at T-Mobile Park.
Expect anything different?
Well, maybe you might have based on the team’s history and what happened one night earlier. The M’s, of course, are the only club to have never reached the World Series, and they gave away a one-run lead in a 3-2 loss in Game 1.
That meant that in order to tie the series Sunday, they would have to take down Tigers ace Tarik Skubal — the man expected to win his second consecutive American League Cy Young Award next month. It was a redwood-sized task, but the Mariners brought their saws.
In the fourth inning, Seattle second baseman Jorge Polanco launched a 392-foot solo homer off a Skubal slider to put his team up 1-0. Two innings later, Polanco hit a second home run off Skubal that gave the M’s a 2-0 lead.
Meanwhile, the Mariners’ pitching was magnificent through the first seven innings, with Luis Castillo (4 2/3 innings), Gabe Speier (1 1/3) and Eduard Bazardo (1) keeping Detroit scoreless. Two swings and three arms had Seattle set up to tie the best-of-five series at 1-1. Then, a giant swing in momentum put that in jeopardy.
In the top of the eighth, Mariners reliever Matt Brash walked Gleyber Torres before striking out Saturday-night hero Kerry Carpenter. Then, Riley Greene lashed a grounder that looked as if it could have been an inning-ending double-play ball, only for Mariners first baseman Josh Naylor to bobble it and put runners on first and second base. One at-bat later, Tigers first baseman Spencer Torkelson doubled home Torres and Greene, tying the score and every fan’s stomach into knots.
Not again.
Those had to be the words echoing through the minds of the 47,371 folks on hand. Even though Brash made it through the eighth without allowing another run, Detroit seemed to have the advantage.
But with one out in the bottom of the eighth, Raleigh — the 60-home-run MVP candidate — socked a double to right field. One at-bat later, Rodríguez — the former Rookie of the Year and a three-time All-Star — doubled him home to put the Mariners up 3-2.
The eruption could probably be heard from Bellevue, Ballard and Beacon Hill. The team’s top two players took over — just as they attempted to do Saturday, when they each went 3 for 5.
Make no mistake — this was a team effort in an inspiring act of resilience that ended with Mariners closer Andrés Muñoz pitching a 1-2-3 ninth. But Seattle won because the team’s titans delivered on cue.
“Those at-bats by Cal and Julio were tremendous,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “This was a bounce-back game for us. And they did just that. To lose a late lead like that and come right back and score a run was huge.”
Raleigh said after the game that he and his teammates had no time to dwell on the lost lead, that “having a short memory” was essential. Then he and Julio combined to give the fans a memory that will last a lifetime.
Anyone following the Mariners knows that Rodríguez is one of the more decorated young players in the game. He finished fourth in AL MVP voting in 2023, but he wasn’t considered one of baseball’s more clutch hitters.
However, after a go-ahead home run Saturday and a game-winning double Sunday, feel free to tag with him with that label. Not that he’s too concerned about that.
“People are going to call me whatever they want to call me, but the biggest pride I take is helping the team win,” Rodríguez said. “If they want to say that I’m clutch, too, cool.
The Mariners entered the postseason as one of the hottest teams in baseball. Some might say the stars are aligned for them to win a World Series. Maybe. But the most important stars are the ones in the dugout. They came through Sunday. I doubt that they’re finished.