The Seattle Mariners did just enough in Game 5 of the American League Division Series to beat the Detroit Tigers and advance to their first American League Championship Series since 2001.
The Mariners took an early 1-0 lead before the Tigers responded to go up 2-1. However, Leo Rivas, on his birthday, came through with an RBI-single to tie the game. Then, the two teams delivered six extra innings before the Mariners walked it off in the 15th inning.
The game was the longest in MLB postseason history, and lasted over five hours. However, T-Mobile Park never settled down. The fans brought it the entire night, and made the game feel like the Game 5 it was.
Dan Wilson Credits Fans for Environment
From first pitch to the walk-off in the 15th inning, T-Mobile Park was bouncing on Saturday night, and created quite the atmosphere for a winner-take-all Game 5.
After the game, Mariners' manager Dan Wilson credited the fans for staying in the game, even after six extra innings.
"I got to say, I don't know how the fans kept their energy going. It was unbelievably loud, even in the 15th inning," Wilson said. "This is a special place. T-Mobile Park is a special place, and they showed us that tonight. Just an incredible ballgame from top to bottom."
The Mariners first run was manufactured by a defensive swing off the bat of Josh Naylor that turned into a double. Then Naylor, who has the second slowest sprint speed in the MLB, stole third base to allow a sacrifice fly to score him.
134 big leaguers had 170 or more competitive runs this season and none of them had a lower sprint speed than Josh Naylor.
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) October 11, 2025
But look what he does with what he has! pic.twitter.com/BnOFhheo0f
However, Naylor was way off the second base bag on his steal attempt, and everyone on the infield was yelling at Tigers' pitcher Tarik Skubal on the mound to step off. But, Skubal couldn't hear them because of the crowd.
Naylor scored, and the Mariners took a 1-0 lead at that point in the game. It's a small example, but the intensity of the home crowd helped Seattle manufacture its first run of the game.
Then, once the game went into extra innings, there was no sitting at T-Mobile Park. Every fan was on their feet for every pitch for the six extra innings of baseball in Seattle.
The players feed off of that energy, and on Saturday night, it helped the Mariners get the win and advance to their first ALCS in 24 years.