Seattle Mariners In 2014: The Best Kind Of Disappointment

One game. Just the sound of it hurts. Thinking about the one run losses, times our pitchers threw gems only to get no support, or even the times our offense put up runs and the pitching didn’t hold (that was much rarer) stings. I can’t sit here and tell you I don’t care because when the Oakland A’s got the final out I was crushed. I will say this was one of the best seasons I’ve gotten to watch.

Think about it, how often does every game matter all the way down to #162? While those last two weeks were killing me, the  Seattle Mariners stayed alive. Even though there were a ton of nerves the anticipation of the King himself pitching in the last game to give us a shot at the playoffs seemed to be a Hollywood script. Despite Texas not being able to deliver, Felix Hernandez did.

He knew the stakes. He knew what this game meant. And after what happened to him in his last start there was no way this one was going to get away. He pitched 5 and a third innings of amazing baseball yielding 1 hit and 7 strikeouts. I can say with confidence that if Oakland had lost he would have gone much deeper into the game. If that is what ‘October Felix’ is like, they’ve got to get him there fast.

In the end it wasn’t enough. One game. But I’ll tell you this is the best kind of disappointment. Being this close is much more exciting than thinking, “At least we have a high draft pick,” or, “What veteran can they pick up in the offseason to sell at the deadline for prospects?”

Now we get to ask ourselves, “I wonder what moves they’ll make that will put them over the edge.” Those other season end thoughts imply that your team is still far from winning and even with the high draft picks, they are far from performing and who knows if they even will. This thought makes us realize how good this team was this year.

Looking forward the Mariners have the probable 2014 Cy Young in Felix and two position players that finished in the top 20 for WAR by baseball-reference standards, Robinson Cano and Kyle Seager. Who knows what got into Logan Morrison that last month but he was fantastic and I imagine we could see more of that next year.

A healthy Michael Saunders goes a long way toward the value of a team. And pitching, pitching everywhere. They have a great core of starters and bullpen arms to be just as strong going forward. They aren’t trying to build a team from scratch but rather build off a team that is already good enough to be in the playoffs.

Yes, it was disappointing not to make the playoffs but only because we knew they could do it if some things went their way. But this team provided so much excitement this season, and I don’t think it’s about to stop here.