When the lights are brightest and the stakes highest, Randy Arozarena tends to be at his best.
Drayer: Mariners confident in their resilience ahead of Game 5
The Seattle Mariners left fielder built his reputation as a star in October during his time in Tampa Bay, where he had an all-time great postseason run during the Rays’ 2020 World Series run. Arozarena hit .377 with 10 home runs and a 1.273 OPS in 20 playoff games that year, including four homers in the American League Championship Series and three in the World Series.
In fact, among all MLB hitters with at least 100 postseason plate appearances since the start of the league’s expansion era in 1961, Arozarena has the second-best postseason slugging percentage (.634) and third-best postseason OPS (1.028), according to Stathead.
Arozarena’s October pedigree has yet to translate to the Mariners in the postseason. After a cold September, the 30-year-old slugger went 4-for-19 with a double in the first four games of Seattle’s AL Division Series against the Detroit Tigers.
But with a deciding Game 5 looming Friday night at T-Mobile Park, there’s reason to believe Arozarena could be ready for a big moment.
Although the scores don’t show it, Arozarena has hit the ball as well as anyone in the Mariners lineup this series. Through the first four games of the ALDS, the right-handed slugger has put a team-high eight balls in play with an exit velocity of over 95 mph, and six balls in play, a team-high with an exit velocity of over 100 mph, according to Baseball Savant.
That includes a pair of hard-hit balls by Game 5 starter Tarik Skubal back in Game 2 — a 107.2 mph single and a 102.5 mph flyout.
Yahoo Sports’ Jordan Shusterman highlighted Arozarena’s big-game potential during his weekly chat Thursday on Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy.
“I’m still waiting for that big moment with Randy,” Shusterman said. “He started (Game 2) against Skubal with a hit, so maybe he has a big swing in there (with) the right-left matchup.
“You have Randy for those moments,” he added.
More Seattle Mariners ALDS coverage
• Who’s to say the Seattle Mariners can’t beat Tarik Skubal again?
• Start time set for decisive ALDS Game 5 against Seattle Mariners Tigers
• What to know as the Seattle Mariners head to Game 5 of the ALDS
• What emerges from MLB Network’s Jon Morosi as the ALDS heads to Game 5
• Three observations from the Seattle Mariners’ Game 4 loss to the Tigers
