Bob Wojnowski: Coming home, Tigers can't waste any more chances in tied, tight series

Bob Wojnowski, The Detroit News on Oct 6, 2025

Published in Baseball

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DETROIT —The Tigers have been on the long, hard road for a while now, under immense pressure since early September. After two tight playoff games in Seattle, nothing much has changed.

You didn’t think it was suddenly going to be clean and easy after all the Tigers have gone through, did you? Same final score in Game 2 Sunday night, same formula. This time, the Mariners got the late clutch hit, an eighth-inning RBI double by nemesis Julio Rodriguez, and beat the Tigers 3-2 to knot the series 1-1.

The Tigers had a chance to seize command of the ALDS, and Tarik Skubal was pumping enough heat to do it. But every swing and every pitch is vital in the postseason, and the Mariners’ big swingers announced their arrival.

Major opportunity lost? Well, sure. If they held a 2-0 series lead, they’d love their chances with Skubal still available for a possible Game 5.

“It's a 1-1 series," Skubal told reporters in Seattle. "It's not that we're satisfied with going home 1-1, but I like to think optimistically, not glass-half-empty. We did accomplish something by coming here and taking one from them.”

The Mariners are feeling the pressure too, trying to shake their own demons. The crowd at T-Mobile Park celebrated madly as the team won its first home playoff game in 24 years.

You’d expect similar passion from Tigers fans, who have witnessed one home playoff game in 11 years. The Tigers took the long road home, with Games 3 and 4 at Comerica Park Tuesday and Wednesday. They haven’t played at home since Sept. 21, a 6-2 loss to Atlanta, part of an eight-game losing streak. They captured the wild-card series from the Guardians with all three games in Cleveland.

The team that takes the field Tuesday should be looser and more confident than the one from September, with Jack Flaherty on the mound. He started the Game 3 clincher in Cleveland, and although he didn’t make it out of the fifth inning, he mostly kept runners off base as the Tigers prevailed 6-3.

“It's going to be a lot of fun,” said Flaherty, who has alternated stretches of effectiveness and shakiness all season. “Hometown games are incredible. Playoff games in general are incredible. You know, you're hoping for a good atmosphere and a good crowd, and you know Detroit shows up. You hear about it, so it's something I'm looking forward to, just feeding off of that energy.”

October at Comerica

The Tigers’ only home playoff games since 2014 were last Oct. 9 and 10 against Cleveland in the ALDS. They won the first 3-0 to take a 2-1 series lead, but the Guardians won the next two to advance.

The Tigers have held two champagne parties since they last played in Detroit 15 days ago, and if they want to host a third one, they’ll have to defy their season-long tendencies. You might have heard about them — they strike out too much and leave too many runners stranded. They’ve whiffed 59 times in five playoff games, and AJ Hinch can only do so much pinch-hitting and bullpen maneuvering to compensate.

It worked in Game 1, when they pulled out the 3-2 victory in 11 innings. It cost them in Game 2, even after they rallied from a 2-0 deficit in the eighth on a one-out, two-run double by Spencer Torkelson. The Tigers’ start was promising, forcing Seattle starter Luis Castillo to work hard — he left in the fifth at 85 pitches — and drawing five walks.

Sluggish in the box

Once again, though, it was an offensive quagmire. The Tigers struck out 10 times, didn’t get a hit until the fifth inning and finished with only three. In the eighth, Gleyber Torres worked a tough walk and Mariners first baseman Josh Naylor committed an error, setting up Torkelson for his game-tying double.

That was it, and the Mariners broke through in the bottom of the eighth against reliever Kyle Finnegan, with back-to-back doubles by back-to-back stars Cal Raleigh and Rodriguez. Skubal did his job, although it wasn’t quite a superhuman effort. He allowed five hits and two earned runs in seven innings, walking one and striking out nine. His mistakes were infrequent but big, surrendering a pair of solo home runs to Jorge Polanco.

“There were a few pitches that I think he didn't execute,” Hinch said. “But all in all, he did a tremendous job of keeping us in the game. I mean, it was a well-pitched game on both sides. They had a couple big swings. We missed a couple opportunities, but I thought Tarik did his part.”

Now that they’re back home, others need to do their parts. This likely will remain a tight, low-scoring series, and there's little time for wasted swings or wasted chances.

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