The main plot points of each club during today's ALDS games
The American League Division Series resumes on Tuesday following a day off for travel, and both games carry enormous implications.
The Tigers returned to Detroit with home-field advantage after surviving a boisterous crowd in Seattle, where they would face an equally boisterous crowd. In the meantime, the Yankees are attempting to avoid elimination at home during one of the most repulsive series in franchise history, at least thus far.
Throughout this postseason, I’ll be previewing the next day’s action, game by game, with the major storyline for each team. Here’s what to watch today.
ALDS Game 3: Mariners at Tigers (Series tied 1-1)
4:08 p.m. ET, FS1
SP: Logan Gilbert (SEA) vs. Jack Flaherty (DET)
Mariners: Is Gilbert ready for his closeup?
Julio Rodríguez is often considered the instigator of the Mariners’ resurgence in recent years, but it should be said that Gilbert has been in Seattle longer and is just as pivotal a piece of the team’s future. Gilbert made his debut back in 2021 and has been a consistently stellar part of the team’s rotation for the past four seasons now. He was an All-Star and finished sixth in the AL Cy Young voting last year and was the Mariners’ Opening Day starter this year.
In Game 2, Rodríguez had a huge postseason moment. Is Gilbert's turn now? The 6-foot-6 right-hander's 2025 season did not go as planned, as he was placed on the injured list for the first time in his career due to a right elbow injury sustained in April. After his comeback in mid-June, his numbers weren't exactly the same (3.75 ERA in 19 starts the rest of the season), but Gilbert finished with a career-high 32.3% K-rate, which was second only to Chris Sale and Zack Wheeler among pitchers with 100 or more innings.
He also has struggled on the road, with a 4.74 ERA there as opposed to 2.24 ERA at home, but that’s pretty much the case for all Mariners starters and somebody has to start on the road. Gilbert is the guy and he’ll have a chance to bolster his Seattle legacy.
Tigers: Can they scrape together enough offense?
When you look at the offensive numbers, it is absolutely remarkable that the Tigers are tied in this series, let alone this close to being up 2-0. Look at their slash line: .141/.238/.231. That’s 10 hits, just three for extra bases across 20 innings. Only one Tigers player, Gleyber Torres, had a hit in both games in Seattle, while Riley Greene is the only other Tiger with multiple hits in the series. They’ve timed their hits well -- Kerry Carpenter’s two-run homer and Zach McKinstry’s 11th-inning single in Game 1, along with Spencer Torkelson’s two-run double in Game 2 -- but eventually, you need to start stacking hits together. That’s not easy against a staff like Seattle's. Detroit's slugging percentage was .287 in its series win over the Guardians.
And yet here they are, going into Game 3 with home-field advantage. Tarik Skubal will start again, fully rested, in Game 5 if Detroit can even split the two games at home. Despite having almost no offense at all, the Tigers have managed to win three of their five playoff games thus far. They will eventually get wet in order to push the raindrop metaphor beyond its bounds.
ALDS Game 3: Shane Bieber (TOR) vs. Carlos Rodón (NYY) FS1 SP: Blue Jays vs. Yankees (TOR ahead 2-0) 8:08 p.m. ET
The Blue Jays Bieber is here for precisely this reason.
Before the Trade Deadline, there were some rumors that the 2020 AL Cy Young Award winner Justin Bieber, who had not pitched in the Major Leagues since April 2024 and was still recovering from Tommy John surgery, may be traded by the Guardians. Given that he has a $16 million player option for 2026, Bieber was an obvious risk. But the Blue Jays took the chance, and now they have exactly what they wanted. His 3.57 ERA and 5.3 K-to-BB ratio were unquestionably an improvement if Toronto didn't exactly receive peak Bieber in the closing days.
And now, the Blue Jays have Bieber on the mound in a potential playoff clincher. Bieber has playoff experience, too, especially against the Yankees. Two of his three previous postseason starts came against New York, a seven-run blowup in Game 1 of the 2020 AL Wild Card Series, followed by a solid performance (5 2/3 innings, two runs) in Game 2 of the 2022 ALDS.
Only one team had the guts to trade for Bieber with the hopes he could be a big part of a championship run in October. And that one team now gets to see if it will actually happen.
Yankees: Can they crawl out of a hole … again?
Look, any time the Yankees lose in the postseason, it’s going to feel like a four-alarm fire to their fans; that would be the case any year, let alone a year after a heartbreaking World Series loss that extended the franchise’s title drought to 15 seasons. But the two games in Toronto were particularly distressing: Not only did the Yankees lose, but they were blown out twice by a division foe that has been building up decades of animosity toward the Yanks and seems to be taking it all out on them now.
For what it’s worth, the Yankees have had some particularly gruesome postseason exits in recent years. But they also have proven that they aren’t out until they’re out. After all, the 2017 club is still the most recent to come all the way back from a 2-0 Division Series deficit, and the 2022 edition won two straight elimination games in that same round. This year’s club just became only the third -- out of 24 in the short history of the Wild Card Series -- to advance after losing Game 1.
Do these Yanks have another rally in them? Getting swept by the Blue Jays, especially in another non-competitive game, could lead to a real reckoning in the Bronx. It’s probably not enough just to salvage one game at Yankee Stadium: They need to win this series.
Mariners-Tigers ALDS Game 3 lineups, FAQ (FS1)
Game 3 of the ALDS will begin in a delay due to inclement weather in the area, the Tigers announced on X. The club said updates will be provided when available.
DETROIT -- 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.
Tigers: Jack Flaherty (8-15, 4.64) starts at Yankee Stadium for the first time since September 10 against a team other than Cleveland. In order to help the Tigers advance, he faced the Guardians in three straight starts, including four 2/3 innings of one-run ball in Cleveland during the decisive Game 3 in their AL Wild Card Series.
Power hitters find Flaherty to be a formidable opponent when he is on, as he locates his fastball in the bottom of the strike zone and plays his slider off it. On July 13 at Comerica Park, he gave up solo home runs to Randy Arozarena and Rodríguez off his curveball and fastball, respectively, but he struck out seven Mariners in five innings. In his last three starts, he gave up just one Guardians home run in 19 2/3 innings, but the M's present another obstacle.
Since Flaherty will be here, his overall numbers improved while he was pitching after four days off. In such circumstances, he had a 3.09 ERA, a.210 batting average allowed, and 11.5 K/9; in contrast, he would have pitched Game 4 with a 5.42 ERA, a.258 average, and 9.3 K/9 after five days off.
What are the starting lineups?
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's rolling out a lineup nearly identical to what he used in Game 1 with Detroit turning to another righty, only flipping Jorge Polanco (cleanup) and Josh Naylor (fifth).
1. Randy Arozarena, LF
2. Cal Raleigh, C
3. Julio Rodríguez, CF
4. Jorge Polanco, 2B
5. Josh Naylor, 1B
6. Eugenio Suárez, 3B
7. Dominic Canzone, DH
8. Victor Robles, RF
9. J.P. Crawford, SS
Tigers: Wenceel Pérez excels in right field at Comerica Park's expansive outfield, but the Tigers need offense and are unwilling to give up the bats of Colt Keith or Kerry Carpenter, who has held his own in right.
1. Kerry Carpenter, RF
2. Gleyber Torres, 2B
3. Colt Keith, DH
4. Riley Greene, LF
5. Spencer Torkelson, 1B
6. Zach McKinstry, 3B
7. Dillon Dingler, C
8. Parker Meadows, CF
9. Javier Báez, SS
After the starter, how will the bullpens be arranged?
Mariners: Similar to Detroit, Seattle's bullpen, which had to cover 10 1/3 innings in the first two games of the series, greatly benefits from Monday's off day. If the first two games are any indication, Wilson will continue to ask the Mariners' four leverage arms—Eduard Bazardo, Gabe Speier, Matt Brash, and Andrés Muñoz—to shoulder almost all of the workload in close games. They all worked back-to-back days in Seattle over the weekend.
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 noteworthy injuries?
Mariners: As he and his wife, Chantel Collado, await the birth of their first child, Naylor was initially not on the team's Monday flight to Detroit, but he is now part of the Mariners' Game 3 lineup. Until she goes into labor, Naylor had been expected to stay with the Mariners. After that, he will depart the organization and travel to Arizona, where Chantel and their medical professionals will be waiting for him.
The Mariners can substitute one of their 11 taxi squad members for Naylor on the roster if/when he departs. If Naylor leaves, he will be added to the paternity list, which permits a player to miss up to three days.
The Mariners would probably start lefty Luke Raley at first base with righty Ben Williamson as the first reinforcement off the bench if that affects Game 4, when the Tigers will start right-hander Casey Mize. The Mariners would then transfer Suárez from third base to first as he has been practicing there all week with infield coach Perry Hill. Williamson, who was on Seattle's ALDS roster, only plays third base.
Tigers: Keith is essentially limited to DH and pinch-hitting duties for now after returning from right rib cage inflammation. That said, he looked fine running the bases in Games 1 and 2.
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: Torres was the only Tiger to record hits in both games in Seattle, including a double in Game 1, while Báez is hitting.316 in five postseason games. Despite that one big hit—a game-winning home run in the decisive Game 3 of the Wild Card Series—Digler has opened the postseason 1-for-18 with eight strikeouts.
Do fans have any other questions?
Mariners: In their most recent postseason run in 2022, the Mariners went 2-2 away from home. They lost Games 1 and 2 of the ALDS at Houston before sweeping the AL Wild Card Series in Toronto. They had severe road difficulties in 2025 from August to September, including a 3–13 run that almost ended their season. However, they recovered to win the AL West by going 5-1 on their last road trip through Houston and Kansas City.
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.
