Seattle Mariners: No Joy in Mudville Again…

Those of you who live in the Pacific Northwest, and who are baseball fans (or at least Mariners fans), once again are experiencing a very common ailment around these parts…another disappointing Mariners season.  With one game left in this season, the Mariners are in 3rd place in the AL West, with a record of 88 wins and 73 losses.  For the first part of the season, Mariners fans held out the somewhat realistic hope that our long playoff drought would finally end with at least a token appearance in the post-season.  

Alas, it is not to be. With the painfully quick fall of former ace Felix Hernandez, along with the shocking 80-game suspension of Robinson Cano, our hopes faded away like a promise of a rainless day interrupted by dark clouds rolling in from the west.  Thinking about this drought, it is shocking in a depressing, geeky sort of way.

The last time the Mariners played in the post-season was literally as the U.S. was beginning the invasion of Afghanistan.  Literally, the Mariners failure to reach the post-season is the same length as America’s longest war!

Many of the kids who are now seniors in high school, were born after the last Mariners’ playoff game.  Think about that…

George W. Bush was only ten months into his first term as president when last Seattle appeared in the playoffs…

Netflix was still mailing out videos then…Amazon was just an online bookstore then…

I didn’t have grey hair then…oops…

One good thing to hang our compass rose hat on though…remember the bad old days when Seattle fans were just praying for a winning season? Well, at least we got that goal accomplished.

Until next season…at least we still have the Seahawks…wait, their record is WHAT?

Mariners: Oh My

The Mariners can be both frustrating and thrilling.  As a long-suffering fan of the major sports team with the longest current record of not being in the playoffs (thank you sooo much, Buffalo Bills!), this season started out with a…how shall I say it…feeling of MAYBE, just MAYBE we can pull it out and make the playoffs again.  The team overcame a spate of early injuries, battled their way to a positive number in the win/loss column, and everyone seemed healthy.  Then Robinson Cano got hit by a pitch in his hand.  Broken bones, oh my.  Well, he can heal from that, it will just take a few weeks.  Then, BAM. a water pill takes him down and out for 80 days. Hey, he can go around the world in that time…

As a fan without a  medical degree, I experienced initial confusion.  I water pill?  I have taken that before. What is the big deal?  Then, reading a bit deeper into the news, it seems that particular drug is a masking agent for the more serious performance-enhancing drugs that are a definite no-no.  Big sigh!  What now?

But the bright news of the Mariners, as of today, May 20, 2018, is that they have a .578 percentage and are in second place in the AL West.  James Paxton is clearly our new ace, with a no-hitter under his belt and continued strong outings.  The rest of the team seems to be rallying, and the possibility of a playoff run is still alive.

AL West Standings 05.20.18
AL West Standings 05.20.18

What happens as the Mariners approach the mid-summer trade deadline?  Our farm system is rated pretty low, so unless we cull from the active roster, we may not have much trade value, but, if the team can survive until Cano returns in August, we may be ok.  Cano cannot play in the post-season per MLB suspension rules, but he can definitely help us make a playoff run in September.  Oh, it is fun to be a long-suffering Mariners fan!