The real winner of the extra-inning war between the Seattle Mariners and the Detroit Tigers was … the Toronto Blue Jays.
Seattle and Detroit produced a game for the ages on Friday night, going 15 innings against each other in a winner-take-all Game 5 of the ALDS. In the bottom of the 15th, it was Mariners infielder Jorge Polanco who finally won it with a walkoff RBI single that sent the crowd at T-Mobile Park in Seattle, Wash. into a frenzy (video here).
In the middle of the epic battle between the two teams, the Blue Jays went viral for their fantastic post on X. They posted the famous meme image of a boxing referee (Steve Willis) with a stunned and entertained look on his face as the two fighters (Danny Garcia and Shawn Porter) were duking it out.
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) October 11, 2025
Toronto already punched (no pun intended) their ticket to the ALCS with a Game 4 victory over the New York Yankees on Wednesday night. Thus, they were just sitting back and relaxing as the grueling battle between the Mariners and Tigers unfolded.
An exhausting boxing slugfest was probably indeed the best analogy for that game as 15 different pitchers were used during the contest. The Mariners in particular needed George Kirby, Gabe Speier, Matt Brash, Andres Munoz, Logan Gilbert, Eduardo Bazardo, and Luis Castillo to throw a combined 209 pitches in order to get the job done.
That obviously benefits Toronto as they will now head into Sunday’s Game 1 of the ALCS with both the homefield advantage and the (heavy) rest advantage. In the meantime though, the Blue Jays were able to add to the list of the fantastic Internet memes that resulted from Friday’s 15-inning thriller.
