It seemed like the Seattle Mariners were in complete control of their ALDS against the Detroit Tigers, rolling to a road win in Game 3 on Tuesday night and jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the potentially decisive Game 4 on Wednesday afternoon. But things unraveled from there, as Detroit's bats finally woke up for nine runs over their final four frames in a 9-3 win that kept their season alive.
The scene will now shift back to Seattle for a do-or-die Game 5. The Mariners still have plenty of reason to believe, with home-field advantage at their back and a loaded lineup backing George Kirby. Then again, playing a winner-take-all game is never easy on the nerves, and especially not when Seattle will have to face Tarik Skubal on the mound.
Of course, all of that could've been avoided if the M's had simply taken advantage of the golden opportunity in front of them on Wednesday. This game and series felt pretty much over, but thanks to failures up and down the roster, it's now up for grabs again. Here are five Mariners who share the most blame for letting this chance slip through their fingers.
For more news and rumors, check out MLB Insider Robert Murray’s work on The Baseball Insiders podcast, subscribe to The Moonshot, our weekly MLB newsletter, and join the discord to get the inside scoop during the MLB season.
Manager Dan Wilson
Handing a postseason start to Bryce Miller at all was a questionable move, considering how mightily Miller struggled to close the regular season and how good Emerson Hancock looked over that same span. But while Miller was hardly overwhelming, it seemed like the decision might work out alright, as Seattle took a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the fifth.
And then Wilson got greedy. He left his righty in to start the inning despite it being the third time through Detroit's order; even worse, he waited until after a Dillon Dingler RBI single to finally go to his bullpen, by which point the Tigers were already on the board and had grabbed a foothold in the game.
From there, every move Wilson made seemed to backfire. Bringing in a lefty in Gabe Speier to follow Miller was disastrous, as it allowed AJ Hinch to go to lefty-masher Jahmai Jones off the bench — who immediately delivered a double and came around to score on another base hit from another righty in Javier Baez. From bullpen mismanagement to some curious lineup choices (burning Dominic Canzone for the struggling Mitch Garver as early as the fourth inning felt too cute), Wilson left his fingerprints all over this one.
The entire bullpen
Of course, any manager will look like an idiot when every reliever decides to simultaneously implode. Speier, Eduard Bazardo and Carlos Vargas combined to give up seven runs on nine hits and two walks in just 2.2innings of work, and those numbers were richly deserved.
It's not Wilson who hung breaking balls to both Riley Greene and Baez for back-breaking homers; Speier and Bazardo did that, respectively, and they deserve plenty of blame for making non-competitive pitches in spots where they should have had a matchup advantage. (Bazardo throwing an in-zone slider to Baez, always willing to chase breaking stuff down and away, was particularly egregious.) The bullpen outside of Matt Brash and Andres Munoz was a question mark for Seattle, and it looms even larger now.
OF Randy Arozarena
Arozarena once again struggled at the plate, going 1-for-5 with a single and a strikeout from the leadoff spot. But it was his work in the field that really stung: Arozarena has long been one of the worst defensive left fielders in the sport, and that was on full display as he took a brutal angle on Dingler's fifth-inning double.
Dillon Dingler gets the @Tigers on the board #ALDS pic.twitter.com/6QH29vvLGD
— MLB (@MLB) October 8, 2025
Arozarena mashed all year for Seattle, but he needs to continue doing so to avoid being a liability. He simply doesn't offer much value elsewhere, and when he's not setting the table for Cal Raleigh and Co., mistakes like this loom a whole lot larger.
OF Victor Robles
Let's stick in the outfield here with Robles, who reached base twice but also was the poster child for Seattle's inability to cash in with runners on. The Mariners had ample opportunity to make their lead far more significant than just 3-0, but they consistently failed to take advantage, and no miss was more glaring than Robles banging into a double play with the bases loaded and nobody out in the top of the fourth.
Seattle came away with just one run in the frame, and finished 2-for-7 with runners in scoring positoin on the day. Robles is primarily out there for his speed and defense, but he had a chance to put the reeling Tigers to bed at the plate. He failed big-time, and that loomed large just an inning or two later.
OF Julio Rodriguez and 2B Jorge Polanco
But hey, at least Robles managed to get on base a couple of times. Rodriguez and Polanco, two of Seattle's biggest boppers and the guys responsible for protecting Raleigh in the lineup, went a combined 0-for-9 with five strikeouts on Wednesday afternoon. It's simply very, very hard to win when most of the heart of your order is failing to even make contact, and it's no wonder that the Mariners couldn't score enough to slam the door on this game.
Detroit felt ready to pack its bags, with the Comerica Park crowd actively booing its own team and Seattle just innings from advancing. Instead of pouncing, they let the Tigers off the mat, and it was only a matter of time before this pitching staff finally gave in.