It was exhausting and exhilarating, maddening and delirious and by the end of it, Game 5 of the American League Division Series was the longest, by innings, winner-take-all game in Major League Baseball history.
Such drama – capped when Jorge Polanco’s bases-loaded single scored J.P. Crawford in the bottom of the 15th inning to break a stalemate and send the Seattle Mariners into the AL Championship Series – comes with no shortage of statistical absurdities.
The Detroit Tigers were shut out for an entire game – the final nine innings – yet still hung around long enough to rue the many missed opportunities all winter. Meanwhile, the Mariners will sleep off their celebration and jet to Toronto for Game 1 of the ALCS on Sunday, Oct. 12.
Before moving onward, let’s explore nine of the most important and absurd numbers from the 15-inning epic.
37
Strikeouts by both teams, a tribute both to the excellent pitching but also the tightness with which players clutched the bats in the late going.
The Tigers struck out looking three times against Eduard Bazardo in the 13th and 14th innings, a grim lack of aggression when the game could’ve been won. Bats were shattering everywhere all night, and where’s Statcast when you need that particular piece of data?
Yet 27 of the strikeouts were registered in the first nine innings – 13 by Tarik Skubal, who set a record for most strikeouts in a winner-take-all game.
2
Consecutive extra innings in which the Mariners got the first two runners on base yet failed to cash in the winning run. In fact, in the bottom of the 12th they had first-and-second, nobody out and a 3-0 count on No. 9 hitter J.P. Crawford – who failed twice to get a bunt down and then flew out to left.
The next batter, Randy Arozarena, grounded back to Keider Montero for a 1-4-3 double play.
In the 13th, erstwhile starter Jack Flaherty walked both Julio Rodriguez and Cal Raleigh to start the frame. Yet he threw a nasty full-count knuckle curve to strike out Jorge Polanco and then got a 6-4-3 double-play ball out of Eugenio Suarez.
Yes, the Mariners experienced the ultimate fulfillment by the end. Yet any player or fan will tell you it was torture getting there.
4
Starting pitchers who entered the game in relief, putting into action the “all hands on deck” ethos so dramatically cited in winner-take-all games.
In fact, Mariners starters Logan Gilbert (who won Game 3) and Luis Castillo (who started Game 2) had never appeared in relief in their careers. Gilbert pitched around three hits in his two innings while Castillo fulfilled an even more awkward ask, coming in with runners on base in the 14th inning. He induced an inning-ending popout from Javy Baez, and then pitched a spotless 15th – for the win.
The most gallant performance? That goes to Tigers lefty Troy Melton, who started Game 1, pitched three shutout innings to win Game 4 and save Detroit’s season – then added a scoreless 10th inning in Game 5. Above and beyond, to say the least.
9
Career RBIs entering the game for Leo Rivas, who suddenly found himself in a crucial spot in the seventh inning after a flurry of managerial maneuvers: Two outs, trailing 2-1, two runners on – and it was his 28th birthday, no less.
Surprise party: He ripped a line drive to left field to score the tying run.
Another run wouldn’t cross for eight more innings – by which point Rivas was well on his way to his 29th birthday.
101
Velocity on Skubal’s 99th and final pitch of the night, a fastball he ripped past Cal Raleigh for his 13th strikeout to end the sixth inning. It was the 14th consecutive batter Skubal retired and by then, the Tigers had seized a 2-1 lead and needed just nine outs to advance.
Alas, the Mariners did well to run Skubal’s pitch count up, and the lefty expended plenty of bullets to get those punchouts. Yet the soon-to-be two-time Cy Young Award winner showed he was all that on the postseason stage.
0-for-18
Output for the Tigers’ 2-3-4 hitters, Gleyber Torres, Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson. They combined for seven strikeouts, four by Torkelson, and four runners stranded in scoring position as Tigers fans pleaded, screamed, begged for just one lousy run as their pitchers kept hanging up zeroes.
1
Career victories for “Humpy” in the “salmon run” contested at T-Mobile Park, usually in the middle of the fourth inning.
Yet desperate times call for desperate measures and so, in the middle of the 15th inning, Sockeye, Silver, King Salmon and Humpy rolled out on the warning track and ran one more time.
Lo and behold, it was Humpy’s night, much to the delight of the T-Mobile diehards.
Just minutes later, Polanco’s single drove in the series-winning run.
Coincidence?
43
Hours between the final pitch of ALDS Game 5 and first pitch of ALCS Game 1.
In that time span the Mariners were expected to imbibe voraciously, dry off their champagne, go to bed, wake up, fly to Toronto, work out at Rogers Centre and, theoretically, get some sleep before the next round begins.
Hit snooze a few times, fellas. You earned it.