Analyzing Detroit Tigers loss vs Seattle Mariners in Game 3 of ALDS
Evan Petzold and Jeff Seidel break down the Detroit Tigers’ 8-4 loss to the Seattle Mariners in Game 3 of the ALDS on Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025.
They’re down to their last chance. Win and fly across the country for another last chance.
Lose and, well, no one is ready for that conversation just yet. Oh, some say they are and may even threaten not to watch these gritty, confounding, oh-so-maddening (lately, at least) Detroit Tigers.
And if one more hitter strikes out with a runner in scoring position?
Stuff the franchise in the back of a couple semis and drive it out of town. Or stay and fire everybody. Something’s got to change, right? The offensive struggles have lasted for decades. And the bullpen? At least a century … or more. Nobody knows.
A playoff loss conjures extremes, no doubt, and it should, as no other sport decides its champ with such tension. Still, these are fraught times for so many who love this team – the historic, late-season collapse in the American League Central didn’t help. And while the rebound to win the Wild Card settled the angst for a moment, it only takes a dismal showing to unsettle it once more.
“We’ve got to show some fight,” said Jack Flaherty, the Tigers right-hander who started strong then lost his way (a bit) during the Tigers’ 8-4 loss to the Mariners on Tuesday, Oct. 7.
They didn’t show enough. Now the season is in the balance. And yet, if you were feeling generous toward this young and plucky team, you might consider this:
They were here a week ago, in this spot: Lose and go home, wherever home is for these Tigers. Actually, it was less than a week ago – six days if we’re counting, and if anyone is looking for a reason to hope … this is something.
The Tigers weathered this moment before. They got a strong outing from their starter against the Guardians, in Cleveland, and finally got some hits.
Can they do it again, against the Mariners, in Detroit?
Sure, in theory.
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And in practice?
Beating Cleveland with everything at stake isn’t the same as beating Seattle, mostly because the Mariners can pitch and hit, unlike the Guardians. Then again, the Mariners didn’t hit so well the first two games of their ALDS matchup with the Tigers, back in the Pacific Northwest.
That’s something, too. The Tigers are capable of softening this scary lineup. They just have to do it again.
It’s daunting, no doubt, especially when it feels like Mariners catcher Cal Raliegh is going to hit a home run every time he steps to the plate.
He isn’t.
Nor is Eugenio Suárez, who hit one Tuesday, or Jorge Polanco, who hit two (off Tarik Skubal!) on Sunday.
It just feels like they are, going into Game 4.
It doesn’t have to be that way, not if Tigers right-hander Casey Mize can summon his pre-All-Star game self, or even the stuff he showed his last few outings. He may not be Skubal – who is? – but he has the game to throw five or six innings and hold the M’s to a couple runs.
That’s a heavy ask, obviously, especially against these Mariners who seemingly pounded every mistake during the regular season. It helps that Mize can’t wait for the chance to show he can do it, as he said before Tuesday’s game.
“If there’s an opportunity to … you know, save the season? That’s about as good as it gets for me, you know?” Mize said. “That’s what it’s all about. So, I look forward to that opportunity, and I don’t fear that, you know?”
Mize has been through tougher stuff, like missing the better part of two seasons after Tommy John surgery and wondering if he’d pitch again at this level. So, yeah, he relishes this chance.
“Every athlete’s dream,” he called it.
This is a start. And if he handles the moment and navigates Seattle’s lineup for a while? The Tigers will have the kind of chance they had in Seattle for the first two games.
Still, they’ll have to hit, which means they’ll have to relax even as they remain focused.
“Simplify,” Kerry Carpenter said.
And then flush: Good or bad. Hit or strikeout.
“We’ve had a lot of success this season at the plate and sometimes it’s gone cold but … you can’t get your identity there,” he said.
Which is another way of saying they have to remember who they are, or who they were for so much of the season.
“We have one more game … to turn it around,” said Carpenter.
Contact Shawn Windsor: [email protected]. Follow him @shawnwindsor.
