When Casey Mize met with reporters on Tuesday, he didn’t know if he would be pitching on Wednesday to send Detroit to the American League Championship Series or to save the Tigers’ season.
“I play to win,” Mize said. “That’s what I care about the most. I love to prepare and compete and hang out with these guys and travel and do all these things, but winning is what I like to do the most, so if there’s an opportunity to do that tomorrow, whether it be clinch or save the season, it’s about as good as it gets for me. It’s what it’s all about. And so I look forward to that opportunity. I don’t fear that; I look forward to it.”
Mize will be pitching to save Detroit’s season after the Seattle Mariners beat the Tigers 8-4 on Tuesday. The victory gave Seattle a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series.
The Mariners and Tigers will meet in Game 4 at 2:08 p.m. CDT Wednesday at Comerica Park in Detroit. FS1 will televise the game.
A former Springville High School and Auburn standout, Mize posted a 14-6 record and went to the MLB All-Star Game in July. He faced Seattle twice during the 2025 season. In his first outing on April 1, Mize yielded one hit and no runs in 5.2 innings in picking up the pitching victory in the Tigers’ 4-1 win. On July 12, the Mariners scored six runs in three innings in pinning a loss on Mize as they posted a 15-7 victory over Detroit.
Mize made his first postseason appearance on Oct. 1 in Game 2 of a Wild-Card Round Series against the Cleveland Guardians. He yielded one hit in the first three innings – a home run to George Valera – and when he walked the first batter in the fourth, Detroit manager A.J. Hinch went to the bullpen. A 1-1 tie turned into a 6-1 loss for the Tigers.
“It was a lot of fun,” Mize said of his playoff debut. “It was a great atmosphere. It was highly anticipated by me. I really couldn’t wait to get out there. I really enjoyed it. I love to compete, and that’s the highest level of competition you can get, so I enjoyed it. It’s really intense, and I think I’m a pretty intense person, so I kind of can match that, which was a lot of fun for me, so I look forward to getting back out there this time at home in front of our own fans, which will be pretty fun.”
Mize said his experience against Cleveland should be beneficial against Seattle.
“I think experience helps,” Mize said. “… I think it’s still anticipated, and I really look forward to it, but now it’s just about the scoreboard, and it was in Cleveland as well. But now for me it’s less of an unknown. Like, I’ve experienced that. I’ve done it. So, yeah, it’s the same game, but now I have a little bit of experience doing it.”
After its Game 2 loss to Cleveland in the Wild-Card Round, Detroit posted a 6-3 victory the next day to win the best-of-three series. This time, the Tigers will need two straight victories to keep their season going.
“We’ve earned our way here and, obviously, have had to play more and more back-against-the-wall type games,” Hinch said after Tuesday night’s defeat. “I know our guys are going to be ready. … We got to show up tomorrow and win a game and get this series back to Seattle. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy. We knew it’s not going to be hand-gifted to us. We’re going to have to earn it and play better in all aspects tomorrow against a really good team, and we can because we have a good team, too, and I’m looking forward to game time.”
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