The Mariners are one win away from advancing to the World Series for the first time in franchise history, and Seattle fans were finally able to celebrate that fact inside a euphoric T-Mobile Park.
Go-ahead grand slam. Game-tying home run. Bold managerial decisions. Letting the lead slip away. The Mariners’ 6-2 win in Game 5 of the American League Championship series was yet another thriller.
Here are my takeaways:
1. Geno’s grand moment
Eugenio Suarez was built for this drama. After Cal Raleigh tied the game in the eighth with a leadoff home run, the Mariners loaded the bases just in time for Suarez to come through with a grand slam that gave them a definitive 6-2 lead and put the Blue Jays away for good. And that was his second homer of the day. The slugger also crushed a solo shot to deep left-center field off Kevin Gausman in the second inning to put Seattle on the board with a 1-0 lead.
The Mariners made some lineup changes for Game 5 to create “a little bit of a different flow,” per manager Dan Wilson. Julio Rodriguez moved up to leadoff, Josh Naylor batted cleanup, and the struggling Randy Arozarena dropped to fifth. But Eugenio Suarez stayed in the six-hole. Whether or not those changes had something to do with Suarez’s wakeup call, the Mariners were just happy that he finally came through.
Suarez entered the day hitting .162 in the playoffs with the worst wRC+ (36) in the Mariners lineup. He and Randy Arozarena (who entered Game 5 batting .158) have really struggled to make an offensive impact for Seattle. Perhaps Friday’s huge at-bat helped Suarez get his timing back. The Mariners badly need him to keep contributing.
Eugenio Suárez hits grand slam to give Mariners lead over Blue Jays
2. Controversial early hook
Mariners right-hander Bryce Miller seemed to be their only starting pitcher who could get the Blue Jays lineup off balance. After earning his first career postseason win in his last start in Game 1 of the ALCS at Toronto, tossing six innings and allowing just one run on two hits, Miller was dominant again in Game 5 against the Blue Jays. Through four innings, he’d struck out four batters and had not allowed a run to score. That’s why it was so baffling when Dan Wilson popped out of the dugout in the fifth.
The Mariners manager pulled Miller after he allowed a leadoff single to Addison Barger — no matter that the righty was only at 56 pitches and had just escaped a jam in the fourth. The early hook forced reliever Matt Brash into the game as the Blue Jays lineup turned over. Though Brash couldn’t protect Seattle’s one-run lead when he gave up an RBI double to George Springer, he limited the damage by striking out the red-hot Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to end the inning and the threat.
Miller, clapping his hands then pounding the dugout railing, was ecstatic for Brash. Wilson’s risky decision to pull his starter was part of a broader strategy that ultimately backfired.
(Photo by Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
3. Woo returns
After Brash got those three outs in the fifth, Wilson turned to Bryan Woo for the 2025 All-Star’s first outing in exactly a month. The Mariners’ best starter this season, Woo had been on the injured list with a pectoral strain since the middle of September. Wilson was looking for a soft spot to deploy Woo and get him reacclimatized to the mound. But after the Mariners bungled their two-game lead in the ALCS and Game 5 was another tight contest, that was no longer a possibility.
So Woo returned to game action, making his first career postseason appearance, in the sixth inning of a tied game. Just three batters later, he let the Blue Jays take the lead. Alejandro Kirk, who’d ripped a leadoff double off Woo, scored all the way from second on an Ernie Clement RBI single. Toronto had a 2-1 lead while Miller, no longer thrilled, watched from the dugout.
(Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
4. Jays squander opportunities
The Blue Jays had several chances throughout Game 5 to blow the game open, but they failed to cash in with runners in scoring position, letting the Mariners hang in. Toronto hitters went 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position, in the end, leaving eight men on base. Besides Dalton Varsho and Andres Gimenez, who combined to go 0-for-8 on Friday, the rest of the Jays’ starting lineup collected at least one hit. Even though they had their clutch moments, like Springer’s game-tying single in the fifth, Toronto’s bats couldn’t build on that success long enough to make it count.
4 ½. What’s next?
Has the Mariners’ offense finally resurrected? Before their eighth-inning fireworks, it’s hard to imagine the quieter version of Seattle’s lineup advancing to the Fall Classic. But the thrilling ending to Game 5 definitely got the momentum back on their side. The M’s are extremely dangerous with Suarez and Raleigh coming through in the clutch. Meanwhile, the Jays’ backs are against the wall. They need to respond early and aggressively to try and force the series to a Game 7.
Either way, Game 6 will be a nail-biter. Mariners fans won’t be able to sleep until then.
“They’ve been waiting a long time for this World Series,” Suarez told FOX Sports’ Tom Verducci. “And we’re here to give it to them.”
Deesha Thosar is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Deesha grew up on Long Island and now lives in Queens. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.
