MLB Baseball
2025-10-05 - Detroit Tigers at Seattle Mariners
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
United States : MLB Baseball Playoff Divisional Series Game 2
Sunday 5th October 2025 - Scheduled 8:03pm
1:03am (British Time)
Preview
There will have been a collective concern amongst the Seattle Mariners fanbase when Game 1 ended in Extra Innings and in favour of the Detroit Tigers.
Instead of getting the better of an opponent that was likely going to deploy the bullpen very quickly, the Mariners struggled outside of the big name batters on the roster and that proved to be costly. Now they are 1-0 down in the Divisional Round Series and the Mariners are going to have to deal with arguably the best pitcher in the Major League.
Tarik Skubal has already proved his worth in the post-season by fanning fourteen Cleveland Guardians batters in the Wild Card Round and a slumping Detroit team look to have found a second wind at the perfect time. There is still room for improvement as far as the batting numbers are concerned, but the Tigers will always feel that a couple of runs could be enough to win any start made by Skubal and especially if he can keep the bullpen fresh.
He almost completed 8 Innings in Game 1 against the Cleveland Guardians and Tarik Skubal gave up a single run in his time on the mound.
It all means that Tarik Skubal has allowed just three earned runs in almost 20 Innings thrown, but all have been against the Cleveland Guardians.
This time Skubal is facing the Seattle Mariners against whom he has a 0-2 record in the regular season having given up seven runs in just shy of 11 Innings thrown against them. He did pitch here during his College days and so Skubal will have some support in the stands, but those previous outings against the Mariners will perhaps be on the mind.
The Mariners batting lineup will certainly know that this is a very tough task, but not an impossible one, as they look to bounce back and make sure they are not on the brink of elimination by the end of Sunday's play.
They will turn to Luis Castillo, who had a 3.55 ERA in the regular season, and this was the starting pitcher duelling with Tarik Skubal in both regular season games. Seattle's starter ended up restricting the Detroit Tigers to five runs in 12 Innings thrown and Luis Castillo picked up the decision win each time.
His last four regular season starts saw Luis Castillo finish with a 3-0 record and a 1.07 ERA so confidence is not going to be an issue. Three previous Playoff starts have ended with a 2-1 record and 1.83 ERA and Castillo has pitched through to the 6th Inning each time, which is important after the bullpen was taxed a little bit on Saturday.
Prediction
This has all of the hallmarks of a pitching duel between Tarik Skubal and Luis Castillo, but the home team might be a touch underrated.
Of course, going up against Skubal after his last Playoff showing is far from easy, but the Mariners have been able to get to the Detroit ace in a couple of games this season. The batting lineup looks stronger now, even if that was not on display in Game 1, and Seattle will also be pretty confident that their own starter can go deep into this game.
Both batting lineups will have something to prove, but the Tigers have been in a longer slump and they have been relying on winning low-scoring games in the main.
Seattle struggled in Game 1, but they can bounce back with a victory in Game 2 and make sure there is all to play for in Detroit during the week.
The Pick :
Seattle Mariners 3-2 Detroit Tigers
FIXED ODDS BETTING TIP :
I'll back Seattle Mariners to Win at +122 with EveryGame Sportsbook
