My Mariners Could Actually Win This

I can’t believe I wrote that title

Image taken by the author.

This stadium will finally witness playoff baseball for the first time in 21 years. The Mariners surprised most of the baseball world, not only by finishing second in the AL West (as predicted), but by securing the second Wild Card spot (as predicted), and then beating the loaded Toronto Blue Jays on their home Canadian turf. Two games in a row, including one of the most incredible comebacks in sports history.

If that 8–1 comeback doesn’t make you love October baseball, there is no hope for you.

But could the Mariners just be getting started? Do they have what it takes to make a deep postseason run?

I’ve exercised guarded optimism in the past, largely because I’ve been burned as a Mariners fan for 20 plus years. Yet after the resilience, dominance, and fortitude this team displayed in Toronto, I think they can make a run at the World Series.

As their manager Scott Servais said, they respect their opponents, but this Mariners team “fears no one.”

It starts with starting pitching

As I said in my first reactions piece, to make a run at this thing, the M’s needed to add another starter. They not only added one, they found an elite flamethrower whose ball…