Ty France's Padres heroics bring the October spotlight he never got with Mariners

We'd contend that the majority of Mariners fans wouldn't have anything bad to say about Ty France, who spent effectively four years with the organization. At the time of his trade to Cincinnati it wasn't so much that he wasn't still trying; more that he appeared broken and no longer capable of replicating what he achieved in 2021 and most of 2022. Now though, he's as good as ever and you have to wonder what could have been if he had stayed in Seattle?

Actually, you can make the case that France needed to leave the Mariners organization in order to rediscover himself. However, to see him exceed what he did in Seattle, must have some fans dealing with conflicting emotions. On the one hand you can be happy for him, but at the same time there must be at least some sense of frustration and maybe even bitterness about how it's all played out.

In fairness, no one could have expected France to be as good as he's been. Certainly there was plenty of surprise last season, when he was awarded the first Gold Glove of his Major League career after a standout defensive season with the Reds and Blue Jays, highlighted by leading all Major League first basemen with 10 Outs Above Average. However, this season with the Padres has seen him fully recover his mojo at the plate, and then some.

Against all odds is nothing new for Ty France to contend with and overcome

It's interesting that it took France returning to the team which drafted him out of San Diego State, in order to prove he can still get it done with his bat. However, it was also fitting that he again found himself fighting to prove his worth after signing a minor league deal with the Padres back in February. It's pretty much been like this since day one for the Downey, California native, when the Friars selected him in the 34th round of the 2015 draft.

The point is that France has never been afraid of putting in the work to show what he can do, or battling against adversity. And the Padres benefited this season, as he put together the best regular season of his eight years in the majors. Through 133 games the 32-year-old tallied a whole host of career-highs, including a 4.5 bWAR, 21 home runs, .865 OPS, 139 OPS+ and 141 wRC+.

France has truly been one of the Padres' best hitters, in stark contrast to getting lost in the shuffle like he did in his best years with the Mariners. By 2022 the M's had Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodríguez and Eugenio Suárez to take oxygen away from him. Cut back to now, and it's just plain cool to see him standing out, even in a lineup which includes Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado.

Even now, Ty France can't completely rid himself of the Mariners effect

Truthfully, you have to hand it to the Padres for still seeming something in France, because he really did seem to be cooked offensively in 2024 and 2025. And now, he's getting to show what he can do under the spotlight of playoff baseball. He did decently enough with six hits in five games for the Mariners during their postseason run in 2022, but this year he's produced seven hits in four games and effectively doubled his OPS from .528 with the M's, to 1.063 in San Diego.

If there's any solace for Mariners fans -- and this is one hell of a stretch -- it's that France still hasn't completely washed himself of his time in Seattle. Plenty of people witnessed that fluky roof ball on Saturday at American Family Field in Milwaukee, which could have resulted in the go-ahead home run for the Padres in the top of the ninth. Instead, after striking a roof cable, the ball deflected into the glove of Jackson Chourio for an out, and the Brewers went on to prevail 3-2 in Game 1 of the NLDS.

The incident led to plenty of debate about what would have happened if the cable hadn't got in the way. Statcast ruled that it probably wouldn't have been a home run although, as per Eno Sarris and Spencer Nusbaum of The Athletic, it wasn't as clear cut as it seemed.

Ultimately though, the only surprise is that this didn't happen while France was still with the Mariners, who are more than used to having funky and bad luck incidents go against them.

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