SEAside Thoughts: Cal Raleigh and the Mariners “Dump” the Curse

Mariners SEAside Thoughts Week 26

“Yes, we ended the drought. This team’s just getting started. We got big games ahead of us, and we’re gonna need you with us…But for tonight…let’s partaaaayyyyyy!!!!”

-Scott Servais 

• They did it. They finally did it. The curse, the futility, the despair. It is done.
• I wrote earlier this week about how much I thought this moment would mean to me. The moment blew away my expectations.
• Thank you to the Baltimore Orioles. Your team had an incredible year. If a few more prospects hit, it is very possible we see a few O’s and M’s playoff games in the future and that excites me. The win by Baltimore forced Seattle’s hand on Friday night if they wanted to clinch. We don’t get that moment without their fight.
• The crowd was electric and brought it from the first pitch. The broadcast brought it from the first pitch. Heck, even the Oakland A’s brought it!
• Logan Gilbert picked a hell of a night to throw the best game of his life. The big moment will forever shadow Gilbert’s domination, and that’s understandable, but Gilbert is pitching like a man that wants the ball in game 2 of a Wild Card Series.
• Matt Brash and Andres Munoz might just be the two scariest dudes to come out of the bullpen in a big moment. I’m fascinated to see them in the playoffs. The way they’re rolling, you may just need the lead after 7 innings.
• To my main man Cal ‘Big Dumper’ Raleigh. I truly believe you were the perfect person to win the game and send Seattle to the playoffs.
  • Cal may be underrated and one of the most important pieces to this rebuild.
  • Cal went through hell early this season and was sent down with a brutal performance all around. It was only for injuries at the position that Cal was given a second chance to come up, and boy did he.
  • Cal will finish the year as one of the top overall catchers and hitters at the position in the league. He will also finish as the home run leader for catchers this season. What an incredible accomplishment and rise for the Big Dumper.
  • No home run was bigger than Friday nights. 2 outs, bottom of the 9th, a full count, a shot at history. Cal was seeing nothing but off-speed pitches. The decision to not give in to Cal with a heater actually backfired, as Cal and everyone in the building knew what was coming, it was a question of whether he’d get good wood on it.
  • That golf ball moon shot Hit It Here Café blast will sit next to Edgar’s double in the history of Mariners baseball.
  • The weight of all the years of suffering and the pressure of the moment. A Friday night sellout, the final pitch of the game to break the curse. Cal saw that pitch, saw the curse, and brought absolute violence to that baseball and euphoria to a fan base.

• That, my friends…is baseball
• I’ll never forget the joy on the faces of Julio and Logan as they stormed the field. Two pillars of the franchise that will be celebrated a few more times in their career.
• I’ll never forget the entire team doing the celebration dance. True team unity, even beyond the players. You need a culture like that.
• I’ll never forget Scott and Robbie talking to the team in the clubhouse, saying how proud they are, but how they’re not done yet, and then Eugenio and the clubhouse losing their minds.
• In what will likely be the season that forever changed Seattle Mariners baseball, let Friday night be known not just for Dumping the curse, but for the night championship-level baseball came back to Seattle.

Go M’s, see y’all in the playoffs!