Cal Raleigh and Eugenio Suárez delivered eighth-inning homers to send the Mariners to within a win of the World Series, and send T-Mobile Park into an epic celebration.
Eugenio Suarez of the Seattle Mariners celebrates after a 6-2 win against the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series at T-Mobile Park on Friday, Oct. 17, 2025, in Seattle.
Not since Boeing’s first plane took off from Lake Union 109 years ago has a flight had so many people in Seattle collectively holding their breath for so long. The ball Cal Raleigh launched into the stratosphere at 5:48 p.m. Friday, leading off the bottom of the eighth inning, hung in the air for 6.7 seconds. It might as well have been an eternity, extending the angst and anxiety of a fanbase that knows both as well as any. When Raleigh’s home run landed just over the wall in left field, it not only tied the score, it gave the Mariners and their fans renewed hope that this magical season could continue. Suárez hit a tiebreaking, opposite-field grand slam off Toronto’s Seranthony Domínguez to move the Mariners closer to the World Series than they’ve ever been with a where-were-you-when-this-happened, 6-2 come-from-behind victory over the Blue Jays in Game 5 of this American League Championship Series.T-Mobile Park has never been so loud, and the 46,758 chanted “Ge-no! Ge-no! Ge-no!” as Suárez rounded the bases following the most meaningful home run of his 12-year career. The stadium shook in a way that rivals the Beast Quake as the most bone-rattling moment in Seattle sports history.I’ve been waiting for this," said Suárez, who busted out a prolonged slump with two homers Friday. “I just feel so grateful right now and feel so good, because we’re going to Toronto with an opportunity in front of us to go to a World Series.” The Mariners have a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven ALCS and can clinch their first World Series berth as early as Sunday back at Rogers Centre in Toronto, where the M’s won the first two games of the series. Game 7 would be Monday in Toronto, if necessary.Toronto Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk, center, reacts as Seattle Mariners'Eugenio Suárez celebrates with teammates after hitting a grand slam during the eighth inning of Game 5 of baseball's American League Championship Series in Seattle, Friday, Oct. 17, 2025. Suárez, a 34-year-old third baseman from Venezuela reacquired from Arizona before the July trade deadline, was already a fan favorite from his first stint in Seattle in 2022 and ’23, helping to end the 21-year playoff drought.Stepping up the podium for his postgame news conference — joined by his two young daughters, Nicolle and Melanie — Suárez choked up as he described the personal significance of the moment. “My emotions right now, it’s very high. I feel so grateful,” he said. “God give me the ability to do something good for this city, and the vibe is always going to be high. Even when you’re struggling, you’ve got to keep your good vibes, because it’s a gift. Today our vibe was so high. We know what is in front of us, and we want to take it. We’re not going to quit.” Up to the eighth inning Friday, Suárez’s second-inning solo homer off Toronto ace Kevin Gausman was the only run for a Mariners offense that looked dispirited and disjointed for the better part of three consecutive games. The Mariners had just two hits in their previous 30 at-bats with runners on base — while losing Games 3 and 4 in rather lackluster fashion — and trailed 2-1 going into the eighth in Game 5. The Seattle Mariners' Cal Raleigh hits a solo home run during the eighth inning to tie the game, 2-2, against the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series at T-Mobile Park on Friday, Oct. 17, 2025, in Seattle. Batting right-handed for the first time Friday, Raleigh led off the inning with a towering fly ball to left field off Toronto lefty Brendon Little, a sky-high blast that just cleared the wall and landed in a crowded Edgar’s Cantina. “It felt like Cal’s ball was in the air for, like, an hour,” M’s manager Dan Wilson said. “But to see that one go over and tie the score, and then after Geno’s grand slam, I’m not sure I’ve heard that building any louder than that.” It was Raleigh’s 64th home run this year, and his fourth in 10 postseason games this month. At 348 feet, it was one of his shortest of the season but will go down as one of the most consequential home runs in franchise history. Seattle Mariners players celebrate after their win over the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 5 of baseball's American League Championship Series in Seattle, Friday, Oct. 17, 2025. Seattle Mariners' Eugenio Suárez rounds the bases after hitting a grand slam home run during the eighth inning in Game 5 of baseball's American League Championship Series against the Toronto Blue Jays, Friday, Oct. 17, 2025, in Seattle. He’s the first catcher since 2009 to hit a game-tying homer in the eighth inning or later of a playoff game. “When I hit the ball, I thought I got it, and then obviously realized it went so high … so I wasn’t sure,” Raleigh said. Coming into Friday’s game, Wilson had shuffled his lineup around, notably moving Julio Rodríguez into the leadoff spot for just the second time since April and dropping Randy Arozarenato fifth. The T-Mobile Park roof was also closed for the first time since the Mariners’ 15-inning victory over Detroit in Game 5 of the AL Division Series a week earlier. Had the stadium roof been open, as usual, Raleigh wondered if his ball might have died on the warning track.After that, Little walked Jorge Polanco and Josh Naylor, and Domínguez came in and hit Arozarena on the elbow with a 98-mph fastball. That loaded the bases for Suárez with no outs. On a 2-2 pitch, Suárez fouled back a 97.5-mph fastball on the outer half of the strike zone. Domínguez came back with a 98.5-mph fastball in nearly the identical location, and Suárez lofted it the other way, the ball landing in the second row in the right-field stands.Suárez has three homers this postseason and 52 in total this year. Edgar Martinez hit the only other grand slam in Mariners postseason history, in Game 4 of the 1995 ALDS. “That was incredible,” Raleigh said. “The fans, they were waiting 26 innings for something like that. Obviously, we didn’t deliver the first two games . But when those moments happen, they just exploded. They have been waiting for that, so that was a huge moment. That was probably one of the loudest moments I’ve ever heard here.”Bryce Miller, the Game 1 winner in Toronto, was sharp again Friday, throwing four scoreless innings to start Game 5. He benefited from strong defense around him, and no play was better than the 2-6 double play Raleigh orchestrated to end the fourth inning and help Miller escape a bases-loaded, no-outs jam. Miller was pulled after a leadoff single in the fifth, and Matt Brash came in and surrendered a two-out double to George Springerto tie the score at 1-1. Mariners ace Bryan Woo, out since Sept. 19because of a pectoral strain, made his much-anticipated playoff debut in the sixth inning, coming out of the bullpen for the first time in his pro career.Alejandro Kirklaced Woo’s first pitch, a 96-mph fastball, into the right-center gap for a double. A 5-foot-8, 245-pound catcher who measures as the single-slowest runner in baseball, Kirk scored the go-ahead run from second base with one out on an Ernie Clement single. The throw from right fielder Dominic Canzone pulled Raleigh well up the third-base line.Two blasts in the eighth saved them, and extended what is shaping up to be the best season in franchise history.Miss Manners: When kids’ behavior puts a strain on parent friendships
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