This story was originally published on MyNorthwest.com/Seattle Sports.
After nearly five hours of white-knuckle drama, Jorge Polanco’s 15th-inning walkoff single on Friday night sent the Pacific Northwest into pandemonium and lifted the Seattle Mariners into the American League Championship Series for the first time in 24 years.
It capped a truly wild, gripping and tension-filled marathon that will go down as one of the all-time great games in Seattle sports history.
Just how crazy was Friday night’s deciding Game 5 of the AL Division Series? Here are some eye-catching numbers that put the Mariners’ 3-2 instant-classic triumph into perspective.
• 15 – This 15-inning marathon was the longest winner-take-all game in MLB postseason history, according to MLB.com researcher Sarah Langs. It also was tied for the sixth-longest playoff game in MLB history. There have been four 18-inning games (including the Mariners’ 1-0 loss to the Houston Astros in Game 3 of the 2022 ALDS), a 16-inning game and now four 15-inning games.
• 15 – Polanco delivered the 15th walkoff hit in a winner-take-all game in MLB postseason history, according to Stathead. It came 30 years and 2 days after the Mariners’ other winner-take-all playoff walkoff, which came on Edgar Martinez’s legendary 11th-inning double against the New York Yankees in Game 5 of the 1995 ALDS.
• 472 – There were a combined 472 pitches thrown in this game. Eight Detroit pitchers combined to throw 263 pitches, while seven Seattle pitchers combined to throw 209 pitches.
• 37 – The two teams combined for 37 strikeouts, which was tied for the third-most in an MLB playoff game. The postseason record is 42, which came in the 18-inning ALDS marathon between the Mariners and Astros in 2022. Detroit ace Tarik Skubal struck out 13 batters over six masterful innings on Friday night, including a stretch where he set an MLB postseason record with seven consecutive punchouts. Mariners pitchers combined for 20 strikeouts, while Tigers pitchers combined for 17.
• 4 – Four pitchers appeared in relief in this game after starting a game earlier in the series. It’s only the fourth time that’s happened in MLB postseason history and the first time since 1952, according to MLB.com researcher Sarah Langs. For the Mariners, Game 3 starter Logan Gilbert entered in the 10th and threw two-plus innings, while Game 2 starter Luis Castillo entered in the 14th and covered the final 1 1/3 frames. The Tigers used Game 1 starter Troy Melton to work the 10th and Game 3 starter Jack Flaherty for the 13th and 14th.
• 1 – Speaking of Castillo and Gilbert, this was the first time in their MLB careers that either of them had come out of the bullpen. It was Castillo’s first relief stint in 248 combined regular-season and postseason appearances, and it was Gilbert’s first time out of the bullpen in 149 combined regular-season and postseason appearances. Castillo’s last relief appearance came in 2016 with the High-A Jupiter Hammerheads, while Gilbert’s was in 2017 at Stetson University.
• 1 – Prior to Friday night, no player had attempted to steal third base off Skubal all season, according to MLB.com researcher Sarah Langs. That changed in the second inning, when Josh Naylor took advantage of the deafening crowd noise to build a massive lead and swipe third off Skubal. It proved to be a massive steal, as Naylor then scored on a sacrifice fly for Seattle’s first run.
• 1 –In his first career postseason plate appearance, Mariners utilityman Leo Rivasdelivered a two-out, pinch-hit RBI singlethat tied the game at 2-2 in the seventh inning. And as if that wasn’t special enough, it came on Rivas’ 28th birthday. Rivas spent nine seasons in the minor leagues in the Los Angeles Angels’ and Cincinnati Reds’ organizations before making his MLB debut with Seattle in April 2024. He had just 17 career RBIs prior to his game-tying hit on Friday night.
• 8,756 –When the Mariners take the field for Game 1 of the ALCS on Sunday night in Toronto, it will mark the franchise’s first ALCS game in 8,756 days. Seattle’s last trip to the ALCS came during the team’s record-setting 2001 season. Polanco, the Mariners’ 2025 ALDS hero, was 8 years old back then.
