9/25/25

(Seattle, WA) With celebrations on both Tuesday and Wednesday, the Seattle Mariners once again had to snap back to reality for the series finale with the Colorado Rockies on Thursday night. With the opportunity to complete a sweep and win their 11th consecutive game at home, the M’s could have had something to play for with that being a first-round bye. However, before they ever took the field, Detroit’s victory over Cleveland secured the bye for Seattle, putting them in the ALDS and giving them a break during the Wild Card series. Momentum was still on the line as Seattle looked to chase down the #1 seed in the AL.

The lineup for the Mariners would be their usual lineup but it would be Emerson Hancock making his first start since early July. Hancock was converted to a reliever after that start but would take Bryan Woo’s spot in the rotation to give the Mariner ace a little breather and rest for his pec issue. Bradley Blalock would get the ball in the finale for Colorado to try to end his tough season on a high note.

Mariners 6, Rockies 2 (Game Three)

Neither team got anything going in the 1st and Emerson Hancock followed that up with a 1-2-3 top of the 2nd. In the home half, Josh Naylor singled off of Blalock for the Mariners first hit of the night. After Jorge Polanco hit into a fielder’s choice, Eugenio Suárez came to the plate with a runner on first and one out. A 1-1 slider from Blalock stayed at the bottom of the zone and Geno went down and got it, sending a fly ball 415-feet for a two-run shot. The blast helped Geno tie his career high in homers with 49 while putting the Mariners in front, 2-0.

Emerson Hancock got some help from Julio Rodríguez who made a great catch crashing into the wall in center for the second out of the 3rd. He would take care of the rest, retiring the last five batters he faced, with three of them being a strikeout. Hancock only went four innings with his transition to a reliver shortening his outings but he was really good in a spot start on Thursday night. Hancock went four scoreless innings with just two hits allowed and no walks while striking out seven. His sweeper was dialed in and Hancock was outstanding to help out the bullpen before a big series with the Dodgers.

Josh Naylor began another rally for the Mariners in the bottom of the 4th after being hit by a pitch to reach base against Blalock. Jorge Polanco moved him over with a sacrifice bunt for Geno. Suárez wouldn’t bring Naylor home, but a base hit the other way into right field put runners on the corners with one out. Dominic Canzone hit a grounder to second for what looked like a double play, but the lefty beat out the relay to first to score Naylor and make it 3-0. A Mitch Garver single and Leo Rivas walk would then load the bases with two outs and turned the lineup over to Randy Arozarena. A liner back up the middle would plate two more as Canzone and Garver scored and chased Blalock with the M’s leading 5-0.

Carlos Vargas hung a zero in the 5th and the M’s tagged on another in the home half. Once again it was Josh Naylor starting it with his 29th double of the season to begin the frame. Cole Young moved him to third with a groundout before Geno added his third RBI with a base hit to left. Seattle was rolling and T-Mobile Park was rocking with the M’s leading 6-0.

Colorado wouldn’t go down quietly and avoided the shutout in the top of the 6th. Blaine Crim doubled with one out for his second of the year. Vargas bounced back with a quick strikeout of Jordan Beck for the second out before a two-out knock helped out the Rockies. Ezequiel Tovar flipped a soft line drive to right that sat down for a base hit. Crim came around to score and Colorado was on the board 6-1.

Caleb Ferguson put up a zero in the 7th and Matt Brash entered for the 8th and got in a bit of trouble after a long layoff. Brash gave up a leadoff double to Hunter Goodman before walking Blaine Crim to put runners on first and second with nobody out. Jordan Beck then hit into a fielder’s choice to erase Crim but runners remained on the corners with one out. Brash then locked in and went to work getting Tovar on strikes with three nasty sliders before also striking out Brenton Doyle on a sinker. The rust was knocked off as Brash put up another zero to keep it 6-1.

Casey Legumina took the mound for the final three outs to try to finish off the sweep. Kyle Karros would be the leadoff man but Legumina walked him on four pitches to start the 9th. Braxton Fulford followed but Legumina struck him out for the first out of the inning. Ryan Ritter would record his third hit of the game to put two on for pinch hitter Yanquiel Fernández. Legumina painted strike three on the inside corner and the M’s were an out away from their 11th consecutive home win. Hunter Goodman wouldn’t let himself be the final out as he singled to left to score Karros and make it 6-2. That was the last gasp for the Rockies and Blaine Crim lined out to Victor Robles in center to end it. Seattle earned their 51st home win of the season, the second most in franchise history with a sweep of the Rockies, 6-2.

Notable Performances

Rockies

Mariners

• Eugenio Suárez- 3-4, HR, 3 RBI, R
• Randy Arozarena- 2-5, 2 RBI
• Emerson Hancock (ND)- 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 7 SO

What’s Next

Seattle (90-69) now has a spot locked up in the ALDS and will host game one of that series on Saturday, October 4th at a time TBD. That was because Detroit beat Cleveland to even things up between those two teams atop the AL Central. Houston stayed alive with an 11-5 win over the A’s but remain a game behind Detroit and Cleveland for the final Wild Card spot. New York swept Chicago 5-3 while Toronto avoided a sweep with a 6-1 win over Boston which keeps the Yankees and Blue Jays tied atop the AL East and tied for the #1 seed in the AL, one game ahead of the Mariners. As things stand, Detroit would visit Cleveland in a Wild Card series to decide who would play the Mariners while Boston would visit New York and the winner of that series would play Toronto.

One series, three games are all that is left in the 2025 regular season for the Mariners. It will not be a nice, easy finish as the M’s will welcome the defending World Series champions to town in the Los Angeles Dodgers. Los Angeles (90-69) clinched the NL West crown on Thursday and are locked into the #3 seed in the National League. They will host whoever gets the final NL Wild Card spot in a three-game series early next week, which means they need to build momentum as they have no time off. Los Angeles will not use Shohei Ohtani to pitch this series although the M’s pitching staff will have to deal with him at the plate.

Of course Shohei Ohtani could always be the spotlight but this time we will honor one of the greatest pitchers of all time. Clayton Kershaw will take the mound in the finale in what will be his final regular season start and could be the final start of his career. Kershaw announced last week that this will be his final season of his Hall of Fame career and it does not seem like they will start him in the playoffs. Kershaw has 222 career wins and a 2.54 career ERA in 2,850 career innings. 3,045 strikeouts and three Cy Young awards to go along with an MVP and two World Series rings makes Kershaw a no-doubt first ballot Hall of Famer. The lefty is known as one of the best people in the sport as well and Mariner fans will get a chance to show love and respect to the best of a generation in what could be his final time on a big league mound.

• Game 1, Friday 6:40pm- Emmet Sheehan (6-3, 2.86 ERA) vs. George Kirby (10-7, 4.24 ERA)
• Game 2, Saturday 6:40pm- Tyler Glasnow (4-3, 3.30 ERA) vs. TBA
• Game 3, Sunday 12:10pm- Clayton Kershaw (10-2, 3.52 ERA) vs. TBA

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