Wait `til next year

 

The Seattle Mariners baseball season has come to a close.

Seattle SPORTs Now predicted in April that the Mariners would make the World Series for the first time in their history. That wasn’t the case, but not from a lack of effort.

After advancing to the American League championship series with a five-game win over the Detroit Tigers, the Mariners and the Toronto Blue Jays squared off in a nerve-wracking seven game series.

Everyone knows by now, Toronto defeated the Mariners, 4-3, on George Springer’s two-run eighth inning homer off Seattle reliever Eduard Bazardo. The Blue Jays, who came into the AL the same season as the Mariners, 1977, face the NL champion Los Angeles Dodgers starting this Friday.

Along with the frustration of being beaten by the least popular Blue Jay among Seattle fans- dating back to Springer’s days with the Mariners’ hated rivals, the Houston Astros- Mariner fans will bemoan the fact that Bazardo was in the game to start with.

George Kirby, Seattle’s best pitcher the second half of the season, drew the Game 7 starting assignment after being knocked out of the box in Game 4. That contest saw Kirby surrender five runs in the third inning of a 13-4 victory.

But the series finale brought back the Kirby fans are used to seeing. When Cal Raleigh homered in the top of the fifth giving Seattle a 3-1 lead, it was easy to see a scenario where Kirby, All-Star Bryan Woo, and relief ace Andres Munoz could pitch the remainder of the game.

However, manager pulled Kirby in the bottom of the fifth, apparently so he wouldn’t face the Blue Jays order for the third time. Woo, who missed the last month of the season with an injury, was relegated to the bullpen for the playoffs.

Woo looked sharp for two innings, but looked like he was running out of gas in the seventh. With runners at second and third with one out, M’s manager Dan Wilson then brought Bazardo into the game. Springer (who Woo fanned in his previous at bat) jumped on the third pitch from Bazardo and hammered the ball into the right-center bleachers for a 4-3 lead which Toronto would never relinquish.

Bazardo called it a sinker that didn’t sink enough. Blue Jays’ manager John Schneider thought Wilson might walk Springer and then bring in left-handed specialist Gabe Speier to face Nathan Lukes. In his post-game press conference, Schneider noted, ``I love the fact that Dan kept the bat in George’s hands.’’

Not that Bazardo has been terrible for the Mariners. He had a 2.52 ERA in the regular season and had allowed only one run in the ALCS. However, he’s considered Seattle’s number-three reliever behind Munoz and Matt Brash.

Brash had pitched two innings the previous night when the Mariners were trailing, 5-2. There was also speculation that the Mariners could have even brought in their closer Munoz to put out the fire in the seventh.

Part of the experience (maybe not the fun) of baseball fandom is to second-guess the manager. Hopefully, Mariner fans don’t become like Boston Red Sox fans who had a half century of bemoaning questionable managerial moves that cost them playoff and World Series games. Then there’s another old baseball adage: wait `til next year.’

A shout out to those who interacted with the Seattle Sports NOW site on the Bluesky app the past two weeks.

Using the handle, Seasport12, we live streamed during Mariner games through much of the playoffs. It was also enjoyable to read the comments of other fans- we’re always up for a good one-liner.

We’ll also be live-streaming during other big events. Bluesky seems to be the site for that. Please join us.