The Mariners' curse is finally broken

Matt Baide | Sep 29, 20220

I don’t want to jinx it, curse it, whatever you want to call it, but after 21 years of involuntary abstinence, the Seattle Mariners should break the longest playoff drought in pro sports.

It’s been a long time since the Mariners were in the playoffs. To put it in context for you, it was the same year as 9/11, and I’m sure many people reading this remember where they were that day. I was 11 years old that day. I remember attending opening day and watching Ichiro play and my mom bought me matching Ichiro sweat wristbands that I wore way more than I should have.

Let’s start with the criticism I had coming into the season and squash it. I have heard from some people, my brother and friend Kevin included on our podcast, Washington East to West Sports on YouTube, that this was all part of the plan for general manager Jerry Dipoto’s rebuilding plan. I was skeptical, as I attended a game as a photographer in 2019 and watched the first batter for Texas launch a pitch over the wall in a Mariners loss. The only all-star on that team was Daniel Vogelbach, who is still hitting dingers in a New York Mets uniform now. There are only a handful of players from that team still playing for the Mariners.

To Jerry Dipoto, I’m sorry I doubted the rebuilding, and I hope that the success of this team lasts longer than one season and I don’t call for you to be fired or resign down the road.

As of this writing, the Mariners sit in the third and final wildcard spot and would take on the AL Central-leading Cleveland Guardians in the opening three-game series. If they win that, it would set up a five-game series with the AL West rival Houston Astros, which I am all for. I hope that Mariners-Astros can be a heated rivalry for years to come. Seattle doesn’t have a natural rival, being geographically far away from most teams in their division, and it would be great to just have a rival based on the strength of how good each team is.

This team has been a lot of fun to watch. From Eugenio Suarez’s “Good Vibes Only” to Julio Rodriguez’s “J-Rod Squad,” this team is having fun while winning games, which makes it even more fun. While I was in Seattle over Labor Day weekend, my parents and I went to the Mariners team store, and I picked up a Julio Rodriguez shirt to show my support. That, and the shirt will be prevalent for a long time after Julio signed a nine-year extension worth a base value of $120 million.

Seattle traded for ace pitcher Luis Castillo at the trade deadline, and they made sure he didn’t leave Seattle for a while after signing him to a five-year, $108 million extension last weekend. These signings give the Mariners a franchise player for the next five years on the mound and in the outfield and I could not be more excited to see what the future holds.

The only issue I have with this season is me. I haven’t gone to a game yet. I’m hoping the first game I go to is a playoff game, but if I don’t make it to a game this season, I’m excited to attend games at T-Mobile Park in the future to watch the Mariners have, hopefully, continued success. I will now be knocking on wood and praying to the baseball gods just in case and exhausting all superstitious options to make sure that my column doesn’t have consequences.