Seattle Mariners starting pitchers vs Detroit Tigers without Bryan Woo
On “Days of Roar,” Ryan Divish — the Mariners beat writer for The Seattle Times — breaks down the starting rotation vs the Detroit Tigers in the ALDS.
The Detroit Tigers have 58 plate appearances with runners in scoring position through five games in the 2025 MLB playoffs, ranking first among the 12 teams in the mix to win the World Series.
That’s a positive.
Among the 12 teams, the Tigers rank 10th with a .192 batting average with runners in scoring position.
“The offensive explosions are hard to come by this time of year,” manager A.J. Hinch said Monday, Oct. 6, one day before Game 3 of the ALDS against the Seattle Mariners, “because you’re playing the best teams with the best pitching oftentimes. For us, we’ve got to pick better pitches to hit. That’s hard sometimes.”
The Tigers and Mariners split the first two games of the ALDS, with Game 3 on Tuesday at Comerica Park.
In those two games, the Tigers hit .176 (3-for-17) with zero walks and nine strikeouts with runners in scoring position, even worse than hitting .200 (7-for-35) with runners in scoring position against the Cleveland Guardians in the AL wild card.
It has been a problem for the past month.
“Welcome to Major League Baseball,” Hinch said. “When you advance to the Division Series, which we’ve done a couple times now in a couple years, you’re just going to face the good guys. You got to lock in your approach to make sure you’re swinging at the right pitches.”
Here is how the 12 postseason teams have performed with runners in scoring position, ranked by batting average: Toronto Blue Jays (.474), Milwaukee Brewers (.450), Seattle Mariners (.333), Guardians (.308), Los Angeles Dodgers (.286), New York Yankees (.282), Boston Red Sox (.267), Cincinnati Reds (.235), Philadelphia Phillies (.214), Tigers (.192), Chicago Cubs (.118) and San Diego Padres (.115).
As of Tuesday morning, the Guardians, Red Sox, Reds and Padres have been eliminated, while the Yankees, Phillies and Cubs are one loss away from elimination.
Three of the top five producers with runners in scoring position have a 2-0 lead in the ALDS or NLDS, which are best-of-five series.
“You definitely spent time on your game plan,” Hinch said. “You definitely spend time on a few sort of mechanical things that will put you in a good position to make decisions.”
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In the AL wild card, the Tigers matched up against Gavin Williams (3.06 ERA in 31 starts), Tanner Bibee (4.24 ERA in 31 starts) and Slade Cecconi (4.30 ERA in 23 stars). In the ALDS, the Tigers clashed with George Kirby (4.21 ERA in 23 starts) in Game 1 and Luis Castillo (3.54 ERA in 32 starts) in Game 2.
Next up is Logan Gilbert in Game 3.
Gilbert posted a 3.44 ERA in 25 starts in the regular season, along with being the Mariners’ Opening Day starter in 2025 and an All-Star Game selection in 2024.
“We have a good offensive club,” Hinch said. “We’re going to continue to put our work in. You don’t get to this place without being able to answer a few challenges. We’re going to stay in the fight and keep competing and put some runs on the board to help us win.”
Spencer Torkelson has been the Tigers’ best hitter with runners in scoring position in these playoffs. He has a .429 batting average in those situations, but nobody else is hitting above .300 with runners in scoring position.
In Game 2 of the ALDS, Torkelson delivered a clutch hit with two runners on and one out in the eighth inning against right-handed reliever Matt Brash, driving in the only two runs for the Tigers in their 3-2 loss.
Torkelson explained the reason for his success.
“You can’t try to play hero ball,” Torkelson said Tuesday at Comerica Park before Game 3. “I think that’s when we get tense and swing a little too hard and chase out of the zone. Right there, I was trying to keep the line moving and not try to do too much.”
The Tigers don’t evaluate their offense by the results.
It’s all about the process.
“What you should really judge yourself by is did you stick by that game plan, and did you swing at the right pitches?” Hinch said. “When we do, we’re a pretty dynamic offense. When we don’t, you’ll see some swing and miss and some innings that end a little bit quicker than any of us want.”
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
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