Mariners Celebrate.
There is something about October 8 that brings out the best in the Seattle Mariners. It was de ja vu all over again as the Mariners completed improbable comeback to win their Wild Card Series with Toronto.
On October 8, 1995, the Seattle Mariners played what many believe is the most incredible game in franchise history. It was Game 5 of the American League Division Series against the New York Yankees.
The game had everything, including multiple lead changes, high scoring, and Randy Johnson in relief. In the end, Seattle’s stars came through to pull out a victory.
Edgar Martinez hit a double down the left field line that scored Joey Cora and Ken Griffey Jr. The latter was the game-winning, walk-off run to move on to Cleveland for the ALCS.
This was the game that saved baseball in Seattle. It was their first postseason visit, and a franchise that was rumored to be moving to Tampa Bay (or other cities) needed this to keep Major League Baseball in the Pacific Northwest.
For those of us old enough to remember the original playoff drought. The Seattle Mariners went their first 18 seasons without making the postseason. Then they went to the playoffs four times in seven seasons before another drought began. This one was longer.
Few gave Seattle a chance against the American League’s second-ranked offense. In fact, 13 of 15 experts from MLB.com picked Toronto. Most of them had the Jays winning in two games, believing the Mariners couldn’t keep pace with Toronto’s offense.
The Seattle Mariners began to silence their critics in Game 1. They did it by shutting out Toronto with masterful pitching. Seattle didn’t need to keep pace if there was no pace to keep up with.
Recent acquisition Luis Castillo and reliever Andres Munoz combined to shut out Canada’s team 4-0. In the new playoff format, Seattle went into October 8 needing to win either Saturday or Sunday to advance to the ALDS and face their division rivals from Houston.
27 years after their first playoff series win, on October 8, 2022, the Seattle Mariners played what might go down as the second-greatest game in Seattle baseball history.
Seattle found themselves down 8-1. That deficit was due to Robbie Ray‘s inability to keep Toescar Hernandez in the yard and an uncharacteristically awful appearance by Paul Sewald, who walked multiple batters, gave up extra-base hits, and hit a batter to score a run.
Diego Castillo came in to finish off the bottom of the fifth inning. He started by knocking Merrifield literally out of the game, hitting him on the head before getting Espinal to ground out.
If you were to hop on Social Media, you’d find that there were several dozen posts about fans giving up on this game. It was to be expected after EVERYONE told Mariners’ supporters that their team couldn’t keep up.
They should have kept the faith instead. In the top of the sixth inning, a little magic happened.
After three straight singles by All-Star Ty France, Mariners’ home run leader Eugenio Suarez, and the Emerald City’s newest hero, Cal RaleighM’s fans began to think something could happen. Then Mitch Haniger struck out, and Adam Frazier popped out to first base.
Oddly, Blue Jays Manage John Schneider, changed pitchers to turn Carlos Santana around to his better batting side. A wild pitch scored France. On the next pitch, Santana deposited a fastball into the stands, closing the gap to 3 runs.
In the bottom of the sixth, M’s Manager Scott Servais brought in reliever Matt Festa who delivered a quick three up, three down inning. After the Mariners failed to do anything in the top of the seventh inning, Festa came back out.
He gave up a hit to Alejandro Kirk before getting Toescar Hernandez to ground into a force out. Servais pulled Festa for Penn Murfee. Unfortunately, Murfee wasn’t up to par. He gave up back-to-back singles to plate a run, extending Toronto’s lead to 9-5.
Suarez led off the top of the eighth inning by hitting it where they weren’t and ended up with a double. Raleigh followed that up with a single to score Eugenio. Haniger followed with a single to center, leading Schneider to call on his bullpen again.
In came Canadian native Jordan Romano. Adam Frazier, who had a tremendous game, drilled a high fastball the opposite way into left field, loading the bases.
Romano quickly collected himself. Toronto’s closer proved to be too much for both Santana (who appeared to suffer a hamstring injury or cramp) and then Dylan Moore.
From there, J.P. Crawford climbed into the batter’s box. The Seattle Mariners shortstop hit a weak pop-up into shallow centerfield.
There was a chance that it might drop. It did drop. Jays’ centerfielder George Springer and second baseman Bo Bichette collided, clearing the bases on what turned out to be a bloop double.
Incredibly, the Seattle Mariners had come back to tie the game at 9. The Rogers Center crowd, which was crazy all afternoon, fell silent. Romano got Ty France on a slider to end the inning, but the damage was done.
After Andres Munoz pitched Friday in Game 1, it seemed unlikely that he’d come back to pitch again. But the situation presented itself, and Servais gambled.
Munoz wasn’t as sharp as he usually is, but he made it work by striking out Jackie Bradley Jr. before walking Bichette. The fireballer got Vlad Guerrero to ground out, and Kirk followed with another ground out.
Top of the ninth, and Romano was still pitching. With one out, Cal Raleigh doubled into the right-center gap. With two outs, Adam Frazier lined the first pitch he saw from Romano into the rightfield corner to plate Raleigh and give the M’s an improbable 10-9 lead.
The Blue Jays brought in Adam Cimber and intentionally walked Santana before actually walking Dylan Moore to load the bases. The Mariners threatened to add insurance runs, but Crawford grounded out to end the inning.
Scott Servais again did Scott Servais things. The Seattle Mariners skipper brought in George Kirby to close out the ninth with tickets to Houston on the line despite the rookie’s lack of relief experience and no relief experience.
After a nine-pitch duel with Hernandez, Kirby got him to finally ground out to short. After a walk to Matt Chapman, he got Danny Jansen to strikeout, then Ramiel Tapia flew out on an 0-2 pitch to Julio Rodriguez, ending the game.
The Seattle Mariners move on to Round 2 and finally host a playoff game. T-Mobile Park will be rocking next Saturday.
For those Mariners fans that didn’t see the 1995 game, this might’ve been the greatest game they’ve ever seen. Those that have been around long enough to have seen both, know. They know that this was a fantastic comeback, but not quite a franchise saving game. Either way, October 8 is the greatest date in Seattle Mariners history.