The Seattle Mariners squandered a gold opportunity to advance, and because of that they will need to defeat Tarik Skubal again.
Skubal, of course, is the dominant Detroit Tigers ace who is likely to win his second straight American League Cy Young Award and will toe the rubber against a to-be-announced Mariners starter — likely George Kirby — in the do-or-die Game 5 of the ALDS at T-Mobile Park on Friday.
Seattle held a 3-0 advantage at the halfway point of Game 4 and was 15 outs from advancing to its first ALCS since 2001. Yet, the Tigers roared back, tying the game at 3 in the bottom of the fifth before adding four in the sixth inning of their 9-3 victory.
Seattle is 2-0 in win-or-go-home games played the Emerald City and 1-0 at T-Mobile Park in do-or-die games.
Tarik Skubal Makes The Tigers Dangerous
The Tigers ace has been the great equalizer over the past two seasons, where he won the American League Triple Crown in 2024 then posted an even lower ERA in 2025 of 2.21.
Skubal has been dominant in the postseason too, since he is 2-1 with a 1.84 ERA and miniscule 0.82 WHIP in 33 2/3 innings over five starts in the past two years.
Yet, Skubal’s lone loss came in do-or-die road start, Game 5 of the ALDS against the Cleveland Guardians, last year in Cleveland. He allowed five earned runs and six hits, including a grand slam to light-hitting outfielder Lane Thomas in Detroit’s 7-3 loss in 2024.
Plus, the Mariners had Skubal beat in his first outing when Jorge Polanco blasted two home runs off the Tigers ace in Game 2. Skubal ended up getting a no-decision when the Tigers rallied to tie the game in the top of the eighth inning off Mariners reliever Matt Brash, but led by Julio Rodriguez and Cal Raleigh, Seattle won the game 3-2.
“We’ve been able to get to Skubal throughout, and we have another chance to do that on Friday,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “Offensively, we’ve done some really good things in this series, so we will certainly be ready on Friday.”
Battle-Tested Mariners Feel Ready To Meet Huge Moment
The Mariners could have quit at several points this season.
They were five games out in the AL West race after just 10 games and turned a seven-game divisional deficit in July into their third division title in franchise history — and the first since 2001.
In this series, they could have wilted at the notion of facing Skubal in Game 2 — after their tight, 11-inning loss in the first game. They could have packed it in after Brash surrendered the lead late in that game.
So Wilson is confident in the Mariners’ resilience. He also is excited to have 40,000-plus at T-Mobile Park on his team’s side.
“These guys have done this all season long where they get in tough situations and they know exactly what to do and they do fight back and they do bounce back,” Wilson said. “No better place than to do that at home. I think we’ll just continue to do the things we’ve been doing and just get back on the right track on Friday.”
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