Tigers Offense Rallies Past Mariners to Force Decisive Game 5 in ALDS
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The Detroit Tigers were in a do-or-die situation going into Game 4 of the American League Divisional Series against the Seattle Mariners.
With the Mariners were up 2-1 in the series, if they won, then the Tigers' season would be over. However, that would not be the case, as Detroit survived to play another game after they ran away with Game 4.
When the game started, it looked like the same old story that fans have seen in the last couple of months since the Tigers were not scoring. But things completely shifted by the time the fifth inning rolled around, which led to a 9-3 victory and a winner-take-all Game 5 being forced.
Turning Point of Game 4
The offense finally woke up when the fifth inning started, and Detroit never looked back from that point on. The Mariners might have score the first three runs, but the Tigers scored nine straight after multiple star players stepped up with crucial hits.
Javier Báez was sensational for Detroit on Wednesday. The shortstop was easily the player of the game with a two-run homer, a single, four RBIs and a stolen base. His single tied the game back in the bottom of the fifth, which was a huge moment for the Tigers.
When the bottom of the sixth rolled around, the game was still tied, but then a few home run balls came. Riley Greene started it off with a 454-foot bomb to center that was followed by a Zach McKinstry single. With McKinstry on base, it was Báez's turn to hit one out, and the homers didn't stop there.
WHAT IS HAPPENING THE DETROIT TIGERS CAN’T STOP HOMERING
— Ben Verlander (@BenVerlander) October 8, 2025
pic.twitter.com/N29hpzckvB
Gleyber Torres kept it going in the seventh, which felt like the final nail in the coffin for the Mariners. But the once-sleepy Detroit offense wasn't done yet, as Báez grounded into a fielder's choice to get McKinstry home in the eighth that was the final run of the game.
In the first three contests of this series, the Tigers scored a combined nine runs. And the last time they had more than eight in a single game was nearly a month ago. This is the confidence they needed to find going into Game 5, especially with Tark Skubal taking the mound for them.
What Detroit did on Wednesday looked like the version they have been throughout the season, and if they are able to do that once again, they will be in the AL Championship Series.
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Maddy Dickens resides in Loveland, Colorado. She grew up with two older brothers, where their lives revolved around sports. She earned a master's degree in business management from Tarleton State University while simultaneously playing basketball and competing in rodeo at the collegiate level. She successfully parlayed a reserve national championship into a professional rodeo career and now stays involved in upper-level athletics by writing for On SI on several different MLB teams' pages, along with some NCAA sites.