What we witnessed on Friday was the longest winner-take-all game in MLB postseason history. After a thrilling 15-inning game against the Detroit Tigers, the Mariners secured their ticket to the franchise’s first ALCS appearance since 2001. It was Mariners’ Jorge Polanco who ended the epic battle with a bases-loaded walk-off single in the bottom of the 15th inning. Now, as Toronto hosts the Mariners for the highly anticipated ALCS showdown at Rogers Centre, Cal Raleigh and Co. have just received a heads-up from Yankees legend Alex Rodriguez.

After Seattle’s impressive feat at T-Mobile Park, Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, and David Ortiz discussed what the Mariners need to do next in order to beat the Blue Jays in the ALCS.

“Now they have seven games, the best out of seven. They’re going to go up against a great team. But now you can sigh with relief and have a little reflection. Make sure that you’re going to have to play better fundamental baseball because while they advance, they are going to have to elevate their game, execute fundamentals, and move runners over.” Following their champagne celebration, the Mariners will meet the Blue Jays in an AL Championship Series matchup that begins with Game 1 on Sunday.

Given how the Blue Jays dominated the Yankees, it isn’t going to be easy for the Mariners. Their Friday’s 3-2 win came after playing for 4 hours, 58 minutes. It was insanely long, and even Rodriguez addressed it further in his remarks.

“Look, the truth is this could have ended six innings ago if they moved the guy over from second to third three different times, and they couldn’t; they still won. If that happens against the Blue Jays, they will be going home or going to Cancun.” A-Rod added.

The Mariners had to use seven starting pitchers to navigate 45 outs. Their collection of arms was incredibly successful. They gave up only two runs on eight hits over 15 innings, with four walks and 17 strikeouts. And yet, five of the six relievers pitched more than an inning, and the team threw a total of 209 pitches. That’s a lot!

On the other hand, Mariners’ big dumper Cal Raleigh caught every single pitch. However, their game plan against the Blue Jays is still unknown and will be until Saturday, the ALCS workout day. Rodriguez is simply insisting the Mariners have a solid plan to face the Blue Jays if they don’t want to have Cancun on their list.

Meanwhile, the Toronto Blue Jays were on cloud nine about Mariners’ Game 5 of the ALDS against the Tigers lasting so long.

Blue Jays trolled the Mariners for their never-ending game against the Tigers

Just when the game at T-Mobile Park dragged into extra innings, both the Tigers and the Mariners had to use nearly all their bullpen pitchers. They even had to bring back some of their starting pitchers from earlier in the series. Eventually, by the 15th inning, the Mariners finally finished off the Tigers after Jorge Polanco’s hit that drove in J.P. Crawford in the bottom of the inning for a 3–2 win. It was one of the wildest playoff games!

In real-time, when both bullpens and rotations were running out of options, the Blue Jays’ social media team posted a fitting GIF on X, showing how their players were just relaxing at home and watching it all unfold. All while both teams kept going back and forth.

They posted it on their official X account, and it immediately gained the attention of millions. It was lighthearted, hilarious trolling, and fans appeared to enjoy it. The Blue Jays are arguably one of the toughest teams to beat in the American League right now.

Up next, Seattle is headed to Toronto for game 1 of the ALC on Sunday evening, and hopefully, Cal Raleigh and Co. will get some rest in between celebrations and strategies.