Jorge Polanco and the end of Hollywood to which he can guide the Mariners
Jorge Polanco, veteran Mariners second baseman, has become the key man in moments of risk for the team
TORONTO — Every once in a while, in the Seattle Mariners clubhouse, the ‘Top Gun Anthem,’ filled with guitar notes and uplifting music, blares from inside a locker. Everyone knows the person responsible. Jorge Polanco, the Mariners’ veteran second baseman, is not a fan of silencing his phone.
“But he loves ‘Maverick’ and ‘Iceman,'” Mariners star Cal Raleigh said.
Nobody cares. When a player does what Polanco has done this postseason — saving the Mariners from the danger zone almost daily, with his latest trick, a go-ahead three-run homer that paved the way for Monday’s 10-3 victory — his ringtone could be Limp Bizkit and no one would say a peep.
Instead, it’s the perfect soundtrack for this Mariners run, which currently sees them up two games to none against the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League Championship Series. ‘Top Gun Anthem’ is an epic ballad filled with highs and lows that epitomize an organization that has spent 49 years alternating between the desolation of mediocrity and the anguish of underperformance. Seattle, the only Major League team that has never played in a World Series, is two wins away from its first American League pennant and heads home to T-Mobile Park for Game 3.
The Mariners’ dominant position is due in large part to a 32-year-old infielder whose exploits have earned him the right to be called ‘Iceman’; However, that is not the nickname that Polanco currently has.
‘It’s George Bonds,’ said Mariners catcher Mitch Garver.
Yes, Polanco’s alter ego is the English version of his first and last name of the all-time leader in home runs in the Major Leagues. He earned it earlier this season, Garver said, when “all he hit was 110 (mph) in a hole or over the fence. It was unbelievable.”
Especially considering that last winter, Polanco didn’t know if he would be healthy enough to continue hitting against major league pitchers. Polanco, who had suffered for years with left knee problems, underwent surgery in October 2024 to repair the patellar tendon. As a free agent, Polanco aroused little interest in the market and ended up re-signing with the Mariners for one year and $7.75 million.
“It’s been a ride, man,” Polanco said. That’s how I can say it. I wouldn’t say it’s been bad. I wouldn’t say it’s been easy. I believe God prepared me for this year. It hurt a little, so yes; but now we’re here and I’m glad to be back.
“You just have to have faith. You overcome it. You come back stronger.
Polanco’s strength has been reflected throughout October. It started in Game 2 of Seattle’s Division Series against the Detroit Tigers, when he hit two home runs off ace Tarik Skubal, who is on the verge of winning his second straight Cy Young. He followed it up three games later, in a decisive Game 5, when he singled to right field in the 15th inning that lifted the Mariners to their first American League Championship Series since 2001. And he didn’t stop there, with Polanco’s go-ahead single in the sixth inning of the first game against the Blue Jays on Sunday.
Then came Monday’s fifth-inning hit off Toronto reliever Louis Varland, who hit a 98 mph fastball over the plate that saw it come off the bat at 105.2 mph, flying 400 feet to turn a 3-3 tie into a 6-3 lead for Seattle.
“He’s always been a great hitter,” the Mariners manager said. Dan Wilson. “His swing right now is very short. That ball tonight, I wasn’t sure if it was going to go out of the park, but I think right now he’s putting that spin on it that’s keeping it up.”
It’s not a coincidence. Polanco broke into the big leagues with the Minnesota Twins in 2014 at age 20, an accomplished hitter whose ability to hit from both sides of the plate earned him a regular spot on the team.
“He wasn’t George Bonds before,” Garver said. “It was Harry Potter. Because he was a wizard.” He just made the hits appear.
Polanco found power five years into his career, peaking at 33 home runs with the Twins in 2021. But the deterioration of his knee sapped his bat power and left him too often facing pitches he would have previously rejected. Last year, in his first season with the Mariners, his numbers plummeted, but the organization appreciated Polanco’s composure and believed that healing his knee would also improve his swing.
The Mariners were right. ‘George Bonds’ was born during an unexpected first month of the 2025 season, when he hit nine home runs in 80 plate appearances. Polanco had adopted the Mariners’ philosophy of pulling the ball in the air. Raleigh led the MLB with a 1.594 OPS on pulled balls. Third baseman Eugenio Suárez was second with 1,497. Polanco hit 23 of his 26 home runs this season to the hitting side, and two of his home runs against Skubal (on the right side) and Varland (on the left) were received in front of the plate and sent over the wall.
“For years, I hated going to Minnesota just because of him,” said shortstop JP Crawford, the Mariners’ longest-serving player. “He beat us by himself many, many times. We all know the type of player he is when he’s healthy, and that’s clearly showing right now.”
Never in baseball’s 150-year history had a player hit three consecutive game-winning hits in the fifth inning or later during the postseason. It’s the kind of performance teams need to win pennants and championships. As brilliant as Raleigh has been in a potential MVP campaign, as outrageous as Julio Rodriguez has been in the second half, and as dominant as Seattle’s pitching has been leading up to this point, winning in the playoffs requires more.
For example, someone who went unnoticed during the winter now hits fourth and never falters, even in the most pressing situations.
“The most impressive thing is bouncing back after a tough year in 2024,” said Seattle pitcher Bryan Woo, who is scheduled to start a potential Game 5 on Friday. “Especially for someone who’s on his second team, in the second half of his career. To do what he’s doing — recovering, coming back, helping the team like he has — is even more impressive than just playing good baseball.”
Playing baseball well also helps. Polanco has helped Seattle get to a place that seemed impossible just a month ago. From mid-August to early September, the Mariners lost 13 of 18 games, were 3.5 games behind the Houston Astros in the American League West, and held a half-game lead over the Texas Rangers for the final Wild Card spot. From there, the Mariners went 17-4, won the West Division, went directly to the first round and charted a path to history.
They have not arrived. And yet, even Polanco admitted that Seattle’s players can’t ignore the team’s history and recognize what it would mean to reach the World Series.
“Yes, we thought about it,” he said. “We’ve heard it a lot. We know it.”
The knowledge has not deterred them. Raleigh is batting. Rodriguez is batting. Josh Naylor, who grew up in nearby Mississauga, Ont., hit a two-run homer in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series. And George Bonds has turned up in style, cool as Iceman, cool as Maverick, perfectly happy to eschew silent mode in favor of loud contact.
