SEAside Thoughts: Mariners Fall in Epic ALDS Sweep

Mariners SEAside Thoughts: ALDS

“This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

-Winston Churchill

• Bummer Mariners fans, but wow what a battle.
• The Seattle Mariners fell to the hated Houston Astros in 36 remarkably close innings.
  Seattle led or was tied in 30 of those 36 innings.
• The offense took it to the eventual Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander, chasing him after the 4th inning and hammering him for six runs.
• The Mariners really had the Astros on the ropes in game 1, and with a shocking upset there, could have had the defending American League champs on the ropes.
• Instead, mistakes were made
  • The Mariners should not have taken Gilbert out when they did. A simple soft base hit, led to panic and the hook. This hook caused the bullpen’s traditional setup to be pushed ahead at an earlier moment.
  • Eventually, this led to more being asked out of Munoz and Sewald, and they didn’t deliver.
  • That happens, it’s not a shot at them, but they couldn’t put the game that appeared to be finished, away.
  • The decision to put Robbie Ray in was terrible. He hasn’t been the same, and the challenge of Alvarez was too great. The process was terrible (sorry Scott) and the execution was even worse. Two straight fastballs in his hottest part of the zone? What were we thinking there?
• Game 2 went from a possible de facto elimination game of the Houston Astros, to an absolute must-win by Seattle and their ace Luis Castillo.
• La Piedra delivered. He was on his A game, and was rolling through the Astros. A weird fly ball home run by Kyle Tucker was all they could muster until another stupid bloop hit by Pena and then Alvarez hit a ball a few inches out of the strike zone out into the Crawford boxes for the game-winning runs in a 4-2 loss.
• That one hurt. You just can’t really lose games when your ace is pitching in a playoff series. History shows you lose the series when you do that. It’s frustrating because Gilbert, Castillo, and Kirby all pitched well enough to win in October, but the offense or bullpen couldn’t come through when it mattered most.
• This was no more true than in the epic 18 inning battle in game 3 of the ALDS.
  • T Mobile and Seattle Mariners fans absolutely brought it.
    Down 0-2, they didn’t care. The night was going to be a celebration. It turned into a marathon.
  • A classic King Felix performance, the Mariners pitching was unbelievable. No runs for 17 innings! 
  • A classic King Felix performance, the Mariners hitting was unbelievable. No runs for 18 innings!

• The loss hurt, it still hurts, but the series opened our eyes to a few things.
  • Contending baseball in Seattle is back. The Mariners are officially THE team to watch for in the next few years.
  • The lessons learned, specifically by the young stars and the coaching staff, are difficult lessons, but good ones that will shape their offseason.
  • Ownership has to see how close we are to being a contender, and yet we probably need a sizable increase in payroll to fix the holes on this roster the right way.
  • This team needs 3 more legitimate hitters to have the depth that makes Houston so difficult. This FA class and possible trade acquisitions are loaded with superstar talent that perfectly fit what we need and our trajectory. Can ownership and the front office bring them here though?
  • We closed the gap with Houston, significantly. Yes, they won the division by 16 games and they swept us, but anyone watching this series could see we belonged on the same field as them.
• In 2020, the San Diego Padres were brutally swept by their rival LA Dodgers in the bubble playoffs. The Padres were good, but they didn’t belong on the same field as LA.
• Fast forward to now and the Padres, while still having many players from that 2020 squad on today’s, are committed to the moment of being great. They went out and got an elite rotation. They traded for Juan Soto and Josh Bell. They created a roster that was deep enough to be missing Fernando Tatis, and are now 4 wins away from the World Series.
• The Padres faced a similar situation that Seattle found themselves in. They went against the best, saw where they needed to improve, and now they have eliminated the most dominant team baseball has seen in 20 years.
• Go be aggressive Seattle, go win the West and lock up a home-field advantage in 2023. By any means necessary.

What a season. I know like most of you, I have not stopped obsessing and I’m already looking at the offseason and how this team can make the final jumps necessary to win a championship. Facing Houston was a painful, yet incredible experience that will likely mold this franchise and be the painful reminder needed all winter in the weight room, the batting cages, and in the meetings with free agents and trade partners.

The curse is lifted, it is a new day in Seattle Mariners baseball. This is the end of the beginning and the beginning of what should be an incredible run where we see the Mariners accomplish things us fans have only dreamed of.

Thank you so much for reading and taking part in the 2022 SEAside Thoughts. It has been my pleasure to talk about Mariners baseball with you all year, and I can’t wait for next season.

The best is yet to come…