Six years ago, Seattle’s professional sports teams were lacking in the win column. The Seahawks only won four games, the SuperSonics were nowhere to be found and the Mariners lost 101 games.
Where does Seattle find themselves now? The Seahawks brought the city a Super Bowl championship trophy. The Sonics are still lost, but hope has arisen in the last year or two of a team finding its way to Seattle. Lastly, the Mariners had 18 hits the other day.
I know what you’re thinking, 18 hits sounds like exactly 18 more hits than the Mariners usually have. But this is no joke. Seattle’s joke-filled baseball team is on pace to win 90 games this season. They are also in first place in the wild-card playoff hunt.
Seattle sports fans have been absolutely treated this year, and the Mariners success is the cherry on top. Even Portlanders—among us a strong contingency of Mariners fans—get to enjoy some good baseball, which has come in the form of scoring of late, from a team that wasn’t expected to be offensively efficient.
Now the question for Mariners fans is whether or not this team has it in them to make the playoffs. They would make the postseason if the season ended today, but there is a lot of baseball left to be played. The Mariners could find themselves facing an upcoming slouch or streak that destroys or further secures their current position.
The hitting from the Mariners has been a pleasant surprise of late, but one thing that has been consistent the past few years has been pitcher Felix Hernandez.
King Felix, as he is known to Mariners fans, is not only putting together an excellent season, he’s also putting together a dominant statistic-filled career. At Hernandez’s age, only five other pitchers have had more strikeouts than him. Having an ace like King Felix will be huge for the Mariners down the stretch, especially in a close wild-card race. He will also play a role in the playoffs, where the Mariners could face a one-game playoff if they advance via the wild-card spot.
Currently the Mariners are four games in the loss column behind the wild-card leading Angels. They are also three games in the loss column ahead of the Blue Jays, who sit in third place in the wild-card standings.
The Mariners’ record is representative of their overall body of work, but what’s been most impressive has been their 42-27 record since April 23. No one in Major League Baseball has been better than the team from Seattle over that span.
Seattle is just coming off a series with the White Sox, where they traveled to Chicago to play three games. They are now home for a long stand, which includes games against the Minnesota Twins and the Oakland Athletics. Oakland is first in the American League West, where the Mariners are third, trailing the Athletics by five games.
If they can make up some ground against the A’s, the Mariners may not even need the wild-card berth to punch another playoff ticket for the city of Seattle.
