A former longtime Minnesota Twin is one of the stars of the 2025 playoffs

Jorge Polanco has come up with some huge hits for the Mariners, who are one of four teams left in the postseason.

Oct 10, 2025; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Mariners second baseman Jorge Polanco (7) hits a walk off single against the Detroit Tigers during the fifteenth inning during game five of the ALDS round for the 2025 MLB playoffs at T-Mobile Park. | Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images

Former longtime Minnesota Twins standout Jorge Polanco has been one of the stars of the 2025 MLB postseason. Now in his second year with the Seattle Mariners, he's delivered several key hits for a team that's reached the ALCS for the first time in 24 years — including the hit that sent them to the league's semifinal round.

Ahead of Seattle's Game 2 against the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday afternoon, Polanco's raw numbers from these playoffs aren't eye-popping. He's gone 6 for 26 at the plate, good for a .231 average. But the timing and importance of those hits are what matters most.

In Game 2 of the second-seeded Mariners' ALDS against the Detroit Tigers, Polanco took Tarik Skubal — perhaps the best pitcher on the planet — deep twice in a 3-2 win. The switch-hitting Polanco homered off of the lefty Skubal on a slider in the fourth inning and a fastball in the sixth. Detroit eventually tied the game at 2-2, but Seattle scored the go-ahead run in the eighth to avoid falling into an 0-2 hole in the series.

Polanco then went hitless with eight strikeouts in his next 13 at-bats between Game 3, Game 4, and the first 14 innings of an iconic Game 5. But in the bottom of the 15th inning last Friday night, he came to the plate with the bases loaded and one out, following an intentional walk to Julio Rodriguez, and delivered the biggest moment of his career thus far.

Hitting lefty, Polanco worked a full count before driving a Tommy Kahnle changeup through the right side of the infield for a series-clinching walkoff hit that will go down in Mariners history, regardless of how their season ends.

JORGE POLANCO WINS IT IN THE 15TH INNING!

THE @MARINERS ARE HEADING TO THE ALCS!!! pic.twitter.com/IEb6DLrHaY

— MLB (@MLB) October 11, 2025

Then, during Sunday night's Game 1 in Toronto, Polanco drove in the go-ahead run with a single in the sixth inning (from the right side of the plate) and added an insurance run with an RBI knock in the eighth (from the left side) in a 3-1 Mariners win. Five of his six hits thus far have driven in runs.

How he got here

Polanco, now 32 years old, signed with the Twins as an international free agent out of the Dominican Republic at 16 years old in 2009 (in the same international signing class as Max Kepler). He made his debut in the system in 2010 and worked his way up to an MLB debut in 2014.

He would go on to play in over 800 games for the Twins over 10 seasons, hitting .269 with a .780 OPS and 112 home runs in the regular season. Polanco started out as a shortstop but eventually moved to second base. After a PED suspension in 2018, he was an All-Star starter in 2019 and hit a career-high 33 home runs in 2021. Polanco was just 9 for 43 in 12 playoff games with the Twins, but two of those hits were home runs.

In January 2024, after 14 seasons in the Twins organization, Polanco was traded to the Mariners for a few players. Anthony DeSclafani never pitched for the Twins. Justin Topa missed almost all of the 2024 season and was merely decent out of Minnesota's bullpen in 2025.

The prize of the trade, from a Twins standpoint, was outfield prospect Gabriel Gonzalez, who had a strong argument as the org's minor league player of the year this year (an award that went to Kaelen Culpepper). Gonzalez hit .329 with 15 homers and a .909 OPS across three levels of the minors in 2025, putting himself on the doorstep of making his Twins debut next season at 22 years old. He looks like a player with a chance to have a long career in the big leagues.

Gabriel Gonzalez had an incredible season in the Twins' minor league system. | Rob Thompson, St. Paul Saint

Still, no matter how Gonzalez pans out, the Polanco trade has clearly worked out for Seattle. He had a down year in 2024 but bounced back with 26 homers this season, followed by his postseason heroics. He'll look to continue to produce for a Mariners team that is hoping to reach the World Series for the first time in franchise history.

Other ex-Twins still alive in the playoffs

Polanco's teammate, catcher Mitch Garver, is another former Twins standout. He's struggled to produce at the plate with Seattle and isn't a regular starter.

The Mariners' opponent in the ALCS, the Blue Jays, have a few former Twins on their roster. Unfortunately, two of them (Jose Berrios and Ty France) are on the IL. But Minnesota native Louis Varland, who went to Toronto along with France during the Twins' trade deadline fire sale this year, has pitched more than any other Blue Jays reliever so far in this postseason, and has gotten some big outs.

On the NL side, the Dodgers and Brewers each have one player who had a brief Twins tenure (catcher Ben Rortvedt and reliever Trevor Megill, respectively). Eliminated in the NLDS were a couple teams with a heavy ex-Twins influence in the Phillies (Jhoan Duran, Max Kepler, Harrison Bader) and the Cubs (Willi Castro, Caleb Thielbar, Taylor Rogers).

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