Anchors Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodriguez do it when Mariners absolutely needed it

They waited a quarter century for this.

They paid $315 million in 20 combined seasons worth of contracts for this.

They absolutely needed this, to save their season.

And the Mariners got Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodriguez to do what they have entrusted them to do: Carry the franchise.

With a wondrous summer into fall and season on the brink, the Detroit Tigers already leading the best-of-five American League Division Series a game to none and having just tied Game 2 in the eighth inning, Seattle’s two franchise cornerstones had the, well... stones.

Raleigh lined the first pitch he saw with one out in a tie game in the bottom of the eighth inning from Tigers reliever Kyle Finnegan, a split-fingered fastball Finnegan left over the middle of the plate knee high, for a double down the right-field line. That got T-Mobile Park packed with 47,371 zanies rockin’ yet again.

Two pitches later, with everyone in the yard standing and roaring, Rodriguez continued his surge that began in July and carried the Mariners to their first AL West division title since 2001. Bouncing on his legs to relax, he ripped another splitter Finnegan left over the plate at 85 mph over third base and into the left-field corner for a double of his own. Raleigh scored easily to break the 2-2 tie.

Rodriguez was screaming above the fans’ noise as he pulled into second base. When he reached the bag he turned to the celebration in Seattle’s dugout. He threw a haymaker at it with his right arm and hand.

It was punch that knocked out 24 years of frustration. That’s how long it had been since the Mariners last won a home playoff game.

Closer Andres Munoz followed Rodriguez’s double with a perfect ninth inning — on top of his perfect ninth and 10th in Seattle’s 11-inning loss to Detroit in Game 1 a night earlier. And the Mariners beat the Tigers 3-2 to even the series that now heads to Detroit for Games 3 and 4 Tuesday and Wednesday.

If the Mariners win one of the next two, there will be a Game 5 Friday night back at T-Mobile Park. If they win both in Detroit, they will be in the AL Championship Series for the first time since Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki was a rookie.

Yes, in 2001.

“I mean, it was huge. You know, after I hit it, I just — I kind of looked around a little bit,” Rodriguez said. “I could see everybody jumping around, and that made me feel really good.

“It was an awesome moment.

“But more importantly, you know, to come and answer back as a team, I felt like Cal got it going right there. And I was really happy to be able to follow through on that and grab the lead again. ...

“Set the table for ‘Mooney’ (Munoz) to do his job.”

Rodriguez’s double leaves him batting .444 in the series. Raleigh’s double leaves him batting... .444 in the series.

Of course it does.

The All-Star catcher and MVP candidate who blasted 60 home runs this season had three hits and Rodriguez Seattle’s other three hits — including a home run and a single that drove in the M’s other run — Saturday. That was in the overswinging Mariners’ maddening loss in Game 1 against Detroit’s potpourri of pitchers on a bullpen day.

Raleigh was asked Sunday night following Seattle’s first home playoff win since Oct. 15, 2001, over Cleveland to win the ALDS at then-named Safeco Field how he and Rodriguez are handling the burden.

You know, the one of carrying the only Major League franchise to never reach the World Series together.

“I think it’s just, don’t try to do more than what we’re capable of. Stay within ourselves,” Raleigh said. “And, you know, just do your job, really, at the end of the day. I know it’s a cliche thing to say, but just be who you are.”

Raleigh said he’s sought to simply his approach for the postseason: to relax and wait to pounce on the first and maybe only pitch a foe puts over the plate to him. He said Rodriguez has been doing the same thing while hitting a slash line of .290/.356/.598 with 19 home runs since he declined to play in the All-Star Game he got voted into and decided to rest those three days in mid-July.

“(We) understand (to) take advantage of those pitches in the heart of the plate and, and, you know, take the ones that are balls,” Raleigh said.

“And I think when we get in trouble, you know, most guys (get in trouble) when they start trying to do too much, swing gets big, bad swing decisions.

“So (we) were just doing a good job of really keying in on the heart of the plate.”

A newer Mr. October

Rodriguez, 24, has been a star since he blew away the majors and country as the American League rookie of the year in 2022.

But now with MLB’s Southeast Alaska team and its games getting more national recognition, including the first two games of this series Rodriguez has been ripping the ball on the sport’s grandest stage, folks are now calling Rodriguez “clutch.” He now has an extra-base hit in a Mariners-record five consecutive postseason games. He broke the mark Ken Griffey Jr. and Jay Buhner had shared from 1995, the Mariners’ first playoff season. Rodriguez’s six extra-base hits over his first seven career playoff games are one behind Griffey’s team postseason record of seven in seven playoff games from that M’s Refuse to Lose season of ‘95.

Buhner was outside the clubhouse celebrating Rodriguez’s latest heroics following the game Sunday night.

“I feel like in games like this...any situation is clutch,” Rodriguez said. “You can win a game in the first three innings of the game, in the middle of the game or late in the game, because every single run matters.

“And, you know, at the end of the day, people are going to call me whatever they want to call me. But the biggest pride I take is helping the team win. In any situation that I can, I feel like that’s what makes me feel good.

“And listen, if they want to say that I’m clutch too, OK. Cool.

“So be it.”

Yes, this was big

The every-day nature of baseball from March into October tends to leave players little perspective on what one game means to a season.

But Raleigh, now batting .300 over seven career postseason games, and the Mariners knew what this one meant to Seattle Sunday night.

And not just the team. The city. The entire Pacific Northwest.

A loss in a game Tigers ace and reigning Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal started and the Mariners would have been down two games to none heading back to Detroit. They’d have to beat the Tigers three straight, two in their park, one against Skubal back in Seattle Friday in Game 5, to finally advance to a league championship.

“I mean, we’re all human in there, right?” Raleigh said, sitting outside the Mariners clubhouse, pointing into the room. “We understand it’s a short series. It’s a five-game set. So it’s one of those things where you assess (Game 1), and then next day you wake up and you bring the energy back to the field.”

They had 47,000 people in a sold-out stadium, plus an entire region, doing that for them. The Mariners won for the 18th time in 24 home games Sunday night.

“The crowds have been amazing,” Raleigh said. “They were into it all night, again. Hopefully they can get some more games here shortly.

“So, we have some business to take care of.

“It’s gonna be fun.”

Andres Munoz gets the save, Mariners even the series at a game apiece. Julio Rodriguez RBI double in the 8th follows Cal Raleigh’s double to break a 2-2 tie.

⁦@TylerWicke⁩ and I are writing it all next ⁦@thenewstribune⁩ pic.twitter.com/vzRHsyKKJE

— Gregg Bell (@gbellseattle) October 6, 2025