SEAside Thoughts: Mariners Show Heart of a Champion

Mariners SEAside Thoughts: Wild Card Series Game 2

• There comes a time in every champion’s journey when they show their heart. This moment usually comes in a big upset over a contender or overcoming the odds in the most challenging environments. On Saturday, your Seattle Mariners faced both and showed who they can become.
• The Mariners, down 8-1 in the 6th inning, stormed back to shock the favored Toronto Blue Jays, their stunned fans at the Rogers Centre, and all of baseball as Seattle completed the second greatest comeback in the history…the entire history of playoff baseball.

• To the magical game that didn’t start out so magical.
  • I get the decision for giving the ball to Robbie Ray, but that doesn’t make it the right decision.
  • Toronto was a brutal matchup in style, lineup construction, and emotions.Even with his first-inning looking spectacular, he quickly fell into the same Ray we’ve seen for the past few starts. His fastball and slider look like batting practice far too much. A decision needs to be made going forward about what’s best for the club, not just giving your big free-agent acquisition the ball.
  • He’s a team leader and wants to help. In the Washington Nationals 2019 championship run, they moved their prized free agent acquisition, Patrick Corbin, from a starter to a lefty weapon that could go multiple innings. In the World Series, Corbin made 3 appearances and helped the Nats pull off the upset.
  • I believe Robbie Ray is a better pitcher than Corbin was in 2019, and I believe he has the right stuff to be an elite 2-3 innings reliever weapon that the Mariners need.

• Overwhelmed by the moment
  • In game 1’s SEAside Thoughts, I talked about how the moment didn’t seem too big for a lot of our players. I think the moment got big for Paul Sewald.
  • Sewald had his worst outing of the season, getting hit hard, missing the strike zone, and hitting players.
  • It was honestly shocking to see. Sewald had some homer-happy outings, but that was unlike anything we’ve seen from him before.
  • I’m stoked for Paul that the Mariners came back to save him from any worse emotions from the game. Whether he was overwhelmed by the moment or not, he got his worst moment of the season out of the way.
  • I expect Sewald to be the Sewald we know against Houston.

• Santana’s moment
  • Carlos Santana has had an incredible career, but one of the more underrated of this generation. A career 115 OPS+ hitter that is a Hall of Famer in the taking walks as a profession.
  • In terms of career and team success, it looked like his best days were behind him with those great Cleveland teams that came up just short a few times in the postseason.
  • This year, he’s been everything Seattle needed to get to where they are.
  • His numbers don’t wow you, but his leadership, ability to get on base, and somehow turn into Babe Ruth whenever the Mariners need a spark is simply incredible.
  • His massive three-run bomb in the 6th inning completely changed everything. Gausman had been so dominant, you could see his shock and disappointment in his rookie manager. You could sense the stadium turn from a party palace into an awkward dome of uneasiness. The vet gave us his team the spark.
  • I’m so happy for Carlos. There was a very real possibility that this was his final season, and for him to have all these big moments, and possibly one more shot at a championship is so cool.

• Cal’s moment
  • I spoke last week about a player getting hot and carrying a team deep into the playoffs. Think of Carlos Beltran with the Astros in 2004, or Madison Bumgarner with the Giants in 2014. Big Dumper is on that trajectory after a dominant performance in the Wild Card Series.
  • Hitting .500 with a gut-punch home run and three RBIs is a heck of a start to his October.
  • At some point, you have to think Julio will make a major impact on the rest of Seattle’s stay in the playoffs, but if those two get hot and stay hot, look out.

• Frazier’s moment
  • From the moment Adam Frazier was acquired by Seattle, he’s had to battle the expectations of his incredible play in the first half last year in Pittsburgh. Frazier likely isn’t that player consistently, but he really had to battle this season just to keep his job.
  • So far in October, he’s looked closer to Ichiro than to the Frazier we’ve seen this summer.
  • In an elimination game, Frazier looked like the best hitter on the Mariners, going 3 for 5 (great snag by Bichette, or else he’d have 4 hits) and had the second-biggest double in Seattle Mariners history.
  • He played the role of a pest in Toronto, and will likely need to do the same in Houston.

• Just my opinion, but I believe the legendary 9th inning by Seattle should be forever known as “The Double Double”. The second biggest hit in Mariners playoff history.
• No matter what happens this week against the Trashtros, don’t forget how incredible those two days were in Toronto.
• The Seattle Mariners went into a lion’s den, faced the ultimate adversity, and showed the heart of a champion. They may not win the championship this year (they might), but they’re going to win a championship, and soon.

Two wins down, 11 to go…Go M’s!