The former American League Championship Series MVP is no stranger to win-or-go-home games
SEATTLE — In 2020, outfielder Randy Arozarena played in a win-or-go-home game in two playoff with the Tampa Bay Rays: Game 5 of an American League Divisional Series against the New York Yankees and Game 7 of the American League Championship Series against the Houston Astros.
Arozarena won both of them.
Now with the Seattle Mariners, Arozarena faces another do-or-die scenario. The Mariners will play the Detroit Tigers in Game 5 of an ALDS against the Detroit Tigers at 5:08 p.m. PT/8:08 p.m. ET on Friday at T-Mobile Park in Seattle. The winner will advance to the ALCS to play the Toronto Blue Jays. The loser's season will end.
The gravitas of the situation isn't lost on anyone in either clubhouse. It's the most important game of the season for both teams.
The key to Arozarena's success in these situations in the past has to treat it like just another game. Friday is no different.
"You play Game 7 or the elimination game where loser goes home, it becomes probably the most important game of the season," Arozarena said in a pregame news conference via translator Freddy Llanos on Friday. "But you also have to remember it's still baseball. You still have to go out there, you have to enjoy it. I have to continue to be the same player I've been the entire season, enjoy the game. Enjoy it with my teammates. And once that game starts, you kind of have to read the game a little bit. You got to figure out whether the game is gonna be open, it's gonna be a little more close, whatever it is. But you just got to go out there and enjoy it."
Arozarena and the Mariners will face defending American League Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal in Game 5. Including the postseason, it will be the fourth time Seattle has faced Skubal this year. Seattle is 3-0 in those contests, including Game 2 of the ALDS on Sunday.
Beating a pitcher of Skubal's caliber three times in a year is rare. Four times, even more so.
But the Mariners have seen the former Seattle University hurler enough to understand what to expect. They have a plan in place. It's a matter of implementing it.
"I think for us, it's just stick to our plan and go out there and execute it," Arozarena said. "Try not to ... swing at some of his good pitches, take advantage of any pitches that he leaves for us and just try to get good at-bats. It's no secret he's one of the best."
Arozarena's playoff acumen has been well documented. In his career, he's scored 26 runs in 37 postseason games and has hit six doubles, a triple and 11 home runs with 18 RBIs. He's slashed .321/.395/.634 with a 1.029 OPS.
In this year's playoffs, Arozarena has scored three times in four games and has hit a double and an RBI. He's slashed .222/.263/.278 with a .541 OPS.
There's another gear Arozarena, and the Seattle lineup can reach it hasn't yet.
It'll be a tough ask to reach that level against Skubal. But there's not a better time than now for the Mariners.
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