The Seattle Mariners and the Detroit Tigers have split their home series during the ALDS, and with the series tied at 2-2, both teams head back to Seattle for the winner-takes-all Game 5 matchup.
While the Mariners get to try to advance to the ALCS at home, they have a tough matchup with Tigers ace, and likely AL Cy Young winner, Tarik Skubal, on the mound for Detroit.
However, as Jason Beck of MLB.com shared, Mariners manager Dan Wilson isn't concerned. Wilson believes in his hitters, pointing to their success off Skubal this season.
Dan Wilson is confident in the Mariners against Tarik Skubal
"We've been able to get to Skubal throughout," Wilson said. "And we have anotehr chance to do that on Friday."
Against Skubal earlier in this ALDS, the Mariners clubbed multiple home runs, with Jorge Polanco launching two, becoming the first player to hit two homers off Skubal in a game since 2021.
Going beyond just the ALDS, the Mariners have faced Skubal twice this season, and their hitters are hitting .250 off Skubal with an .848 OPS across 46 plate appearances. Only the Miami Marlins and the Los Angeles Dodgers have hit Skubal harder this season.
The Tigers ace has a 2.21 ERA this season in 31 starts with a 13-6 record. It's the best ERA mark of his career, and is also the best mark of any AL starter this season. Skubal also had a career high of 241 strikeouts this season.
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In his two starts this playoffs, Skubal has a 1.84 ERA, with two of the three runs he's given up coming off Polanco in this series. While the Mariners have already beaten Skubal this postseason, it's not going to be easy to take the series in Game 5.
Wilson can be confident in his club, and he has good reason to be. However, that doesn't diminish the difficulty of this matchup. With the winner of this Game 5 set to face the Toronto Blue Jays in the ALCS, this is the biggest game of the season for any team thus far.
Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodriguez, Polanco, and Eugenio Suarez will need to come to play for the Mariners. It should be an exciting matchup, but a stressful one for the Mariners, as facing Skubal is the toughest matchup they could draw for Game 5 of the ALDS.
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