Seattle Mariners Change ALCS With Crazy Comeback, Earthshaking Grand Slam

Seattle scores five runs in eighth inning after trailing for seven and half innings at T-Mobile Park

Playoff baseball is the absolute best.

The Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays kicked off Friday evening’s game at T-Mobile Park with the series tied 2-2. That wasn’t where anyone expected it to be after Seattle jumped out to a 2-0 ALCS lead in Toronto. 

Heading back to the West Coast, with a two-game lead. Home field advantage. And a seemingly large pitching advantage in games three and four. George Kirby against Shane Bieber on Wednesday night. Luis Castillo against an aging Max Scherzer on Thursday night. But the powerful Blue Jays offense exploded, scoring 13 runs in game three, and eight runs in game four. 

Suddenly, the pitching advantage, and presumably the series, had flipped. Toronto had Kevin Gausman, their best pitcher, on the mound Friday night against Bryce Miller, who struggled mightily in the regular season. 

For seven and a half innings, it seemed like the Blue Jays would once again cruise to a win in game five. Take a 3-2 lead in the best of seven while heading back to Toronto needing just one win to complete the improbable series comeback. But as is so often the case in the playoffs, as soon as you feel comfortable is right when the floor falls out from underneath you. And boy did it fall out from underneath the Blue Jays.

Seattle Storms Back To Take 3-2 Series Lead 

With superstar catcher Cal Raleigh due up, the Blue Jays brought in Brendon Little to flip him around to hit from the right side. It didn’t matter. Raleigh launched a 2-0 pitch for a game-tying homer that just cleared the left field fence. 

Without the benefit of a hit, Seattle then loaded the bases. Jorge Polanco walked. Josh Naylor walked. Seranthony Dominguez came in to relieve Little. But then Randy Arozarena was hit by a pitch. Enter Eugenio Suarez, needing just a fly ball to score the go-ahead run. He did a bit more than that. 

On a 2-2 99mph fastball, Suarez hit a grand slam to right field, sending the home Seatlte fans into a frenzy. 

A stadium-shaking frenzy.

Closer Andres Munoz shut the Blue Jays down in a quiet 9th inning, and in a matter of minutes, the ALCS, and the entire playoffs, completely flipped. 

Toronto was six outs away from sweeping all three games in Seattle. Six outs away from being just one win away from a historic comeback, from their first World Series appearance in over 30 years. Now it’s the Mariners who are just a win away from their first World Series appearance in franchise history. Insanity.

The Blue Jays can comfort themselves by saying they just won two in a row to even the series. And they head back to Rogers Centre, where they were 54-27 in the regular season. But it’s hard to come back from a gut punch loss like that, and the Mariners need to steal just one of the next two to get through. Playoff baseball remains the best.