SEATTLE — The Mariners responded in a big way on Sunday night with a tense, 3-2 win in Game 2 of this American League Division Series, and now the Tigers will attempt to respond when returning home for the first time in more than two weeks.
Those are the stakes in front of Seattle and Detroit as this series shifts to Comerica Park for Games 3 and 4, both of which are now guaranteed to be played after it was evened at 1-1 on Sunday. If they split those two, a winner-take-all Game 5 would follow back in Seattle on Friday.
“They’re not going to like us over there,” said Mariners center fielder Julio Rodríguez, who delivered the game-winning hit in the eighth inning in Game 2. “They’re going to root for their team. They’re going to root for the Tigers, just like the Mariners here, our fans were rooting for us. And just go out there and play baseball. That’s a mindset.”
Added Tigers manager A.J. Hinch, after Game 2: “Obviously it’s a frustrating loss because every loss at this time of year is frustrating, but I’m obviously proud of our group and excited to get home.”
In the Division Series with the current 2-2-1 format, teams to earn a split of the first two games on the road, before returning home for Games 3-4, have advanced 30 of 48 times (62.5%).
When is the game and how can I watch it?
Game 3 between the Mariners and Tigers will be at 4:08 p.m. ET/1:08 p.m. PT on FS1. All series are available in the US on MLB.TV with authentication to a participating Pay TV provider. Games also are available live internationally, although not in Canada. Sportsnet is MLB’s exclusive English language broadcaster in Canada for every Postseason game, while TVA Sports will be covering the entire AL Postseason and the World Series in French and Broadcaster RDS will cover the entire NL Postseason in French.
Who are the starting pitchers?
Mariners: Logan Gilbert (6-4, 3.44 ERA) will make his much-anticipated playoff debut in 2025, after being pushed back to Game 3 as part of a series of matchup-dictated decisions, as the Mariners figured he gave them their best chance on the road over George Kirby and Luis Castillo, who started Games 1 and 2, respectively. That said, Gilbert has also had his hiccups on the road (4.74 ERA) albeit less pronounced than the rest of Seattle’s starters — other than Bryan Woo (3.40 ERA), who was not included on the Mariners’ ALDS roster due to pectoral inflammation.
This will be Gilbert’s third start against Detroit this season. On April 1, he surrendered three runs in five innings with 10 strikeouts. On July 13 at Comerica Park, he K’d nine and allowed two unearned runs in 5 1/3 innings before running into an inflated pitch count.
When Flaherty is on, he’s a tough matchup for power hitters, locating his fastball at the bottom of the strike zone and playing his slider off it. He struck out seven Mariners over five innings on July 13 at Comerica Park, giving up solo homers to Rodríguez and Randy Arozarena off his fastball and curveball respectively. He allowed only one Guardians home run over 19 2/3 innings across his last three starts, but the M’s provide another challenge.
Flaherty’s numbers were better all around when pitching on four days’ rest, as he will be here. He had a 3.09 ERA, a .210 batting average allowed and 11.5 K/9 in those situations, compared with a 5.42 ERA, a .258 average and 9.3 K/9 on five days’ rest, which he would’ve had pitching Game 4.
What might the starting lineups look like?
Mariners: Seattle manager Dan Wilson regularly deployed a more consistent daily lineup throughout the regular season, and that was particularly true once the entire roster came together after the Trade Deadline. And that has remained in the playoffs, with the only factors changing based on the opposing pitcher’s handedness. In that context, he’ll likely roll out an identical lineup to Game 1, with Detroit turning to another righty.
Tigers: Comerica Park’s spacious outfield could lend itself to Wenceel Pérez in right field, but not at the expense of Kerry Carpenter or Colt Keith. The Tigers need offense, and Carpenter has held his own in right.
How will the bullpens line up after the starter?
Mariners: As with Detroit, the off-day Monday comes as a huge help for a Seattle bullpen that had to cover 10 1/3 innings across the first two games of the series. All four of the Mariners’ leverage arms — Eduard Bazardo, Gabe Speier, Matt Brash and Andrés Muñoz — worked back-to-back days in Seattle over the weekend, and if the first two games are any indication, Wilson is going to continue to ask that quartet to handle nearly all of the workload in close games.
Tigers: Monday’s off-day gives Detroit’s bullpen a chance to reset after a fairly heavy workload, including seven innings in Game 1. Getting Kyle Finnegan a day off is potentially big, allowing him to be available for the formidable center of the Mariners’ lineup in the middle to late innings.
Any injuries of note?
Mariners: Naylor’s status for Games 3 and 4 appears uncertain after he did not fly with the Mariners to Detroit on Monday. Wilson said Naylor had a “personal day,” and the team would know more information before Game 3 on Tuesday. Naylor and his wife, Chantel Collado, have been awaiting the birth of their first child. The plan has been for Naylor to remain with the Mariners until she goes into labor, at which point he will leave the club and trek to Arizona, where Chantel and their doctors await.
If/when Naylor leaves, he will be placed on the paternity list, which allows for a player to miss up to three days — and the Mariners can replace him on their roster during the absence with one of their 11 members of their taxi squad.
If that impacts Game 3, the Mariners would likely start lefty-hitting Luke Raley at first base against Flaherty, with righty-hitting Ben Williamson as the first reinforcement off the bench. Williamson, who was included on Seattle’s ALDS roster, exclusively plays third base, but the Mariners would then move Suárez from third to first, as he’s been working out at the position all week with infield coach Perry Hill.
Who is hot and who is not?
Mariners: Rodríguez has returned to postseason play on a heater, following his three-hit night in Game 1 with the go-ahead double in the bottom of the eighth to power the Mariners to the win in Game 2. In doing so, he stretched his postseason streak of games with an extra-base hit to five, the longest in Mariners history and the longest by a player under the age of 25. Raleigh also totaled four hits across the first two games of the series, while Polanco became the fourth player in Mariners history to hit two home runs in a playoff game in Game 2. On the other side, Naylor and Suárez are a combined 0-for-16.
Tigers: Báez is hitting .316 in five postseason games, while Torres was the only Tiger to record hits in both games in Seattle, including a double in Game 1. Dingler has started the postseason 1-for-18 with eight strikeouts, though that one hit was a loud one — a go-ahead home run in the deciding Game 3 of the Wild Card Series.
Anything else fans might want to know?
Mariners: The Mariners went 2-2 on the road during their most recent playoff run in 2022, sweeping the AL Wild Card Series in Toronto then dropping Games 1 and 2 of the ALDS in Houston toward an eventual sweep. In 2025, they experienced pronounced struggles on the road from August into September, including a 3-13 stretch that nearly spiraled their season. But they rebounded to go 5-1 on their final road trip through Kansas City and Houston, which helped them win the AL West.
Tigers: The Tigers are set to play their first game in front of a home crowd since Sept. 21, after finishing the regular season with back-to-back road series, then going to Cleveland for the Wild Card Series before coming to Seattle for the first two games of the ALDS. Last season, Detroit went 1-2 in the postseason at Comerica Park; this season, their 46-35 record at home was tied for sixth-best in the AL.
