Viral Mariners fans were all of us as franchise finally shook off a 24-year burden

There are long waits, and then there are waits like the one Seattle Mariners fans had to endure between playoff wins at T-Mobile Park. At the start of the day on Sunday, it had been 8,756 days since Mariners fans had seen their team win a postseason game up close and in person in Seattle.

That isn't quite a full 24 years, but 23 years, 11 months and 20 days is what they call "close enough for government work." And to really give you an idea how long ago it had been since Game 5 of the 2001 American League Division Series, Julio Rodríguez wasn't even a year old when that game was played.

Nobody knew then that little Julio would grow up and become a big Mariners star, much less that he would get the big hit that helped the team finally put their home playoff winless streak to rest with a 3-2 victory over the Detroit Tigers in Game 2 of this year's ALDS. Exactly how it will fit into the rest of the club's playoff journey remains to be seen. At least for now, though, it is one of the great "Hallelujah!" moments in the Mariners' 49-year history.

Which brings us to the two fans who were caught by the FS1 camera crew at a moment that might have been awkward for them, but is downright perfect for the rest of us:

Granted, all we have to go off of here is the video, which may not provide the full context. But what we seem to have here is one fan breaking down in tears as the Mariners closed in on their long-awaited victory, and another offering the comfort of an embrace.

What's the Martin Scorsese meme that everyone loves? Oh, right: This Is Cinema.

Mariners fans finally get to taste a home playoff victory after 24 years

It's only one playoff victory, and all it did was tie the ALDS at 1-1. That isn't even the outcome the Mariners wanted from the first two games at T-Mobile Park, as they effectively ceded home-field advantage to Detroit ahead of Games 3 and 4 on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Still, what we saw last night was a whole bunch of people (47,731, to be exact) making a happy playoff memory in real time. And for many of them, it may be the only happy memory of Mariners playoff baseball they have.

Yes, the Mariners did win a playoff series just three years ago. But that happened literally in another country, and the only game at T-Mobile Park that the Mariners got out of it resulted in a 1-0 loss to the hated Houston Astros after 18 innings. Not exactly fun times, you dig?

You have to go back even further than 2001 to find the last truly happy playoff memory for Mariners fans. That team's win in the ALDS was expected, and so undramatic that you have to dig for the footage on YouTube — where it only has 26,000 views.

By contrast, the footage of Edgar Martínez, Ken Griffey Jr. and "The Double" from 1995 has close to 700,000 views. For Mariners fans, this is the good stuff. The stuff that never gets old...except it has. That clip is nearly three decades old. And with its 4:3 format and non-HD quality, it feels old. For anyone who's younger than, say, their mid-30s, it's a dang relic.

For all we know, the two fans in the viral clip may be part of that demographic. And even if they're not, their whole vibe has a clear translation: Oh, this is what this feels like.

Yes. Yes it does. And hopefully, the wait to feel it again will be shorter than 23 years, 11 months and 20 days.