The Seattle Mariners and the numbness of nothing

I really don’t know how I didn’t see that coming. All the signs were there. I’ve watched this same cruddy story play out for two decades straight, and I thought there was a sliver of hope that this time might be different?

Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. And on Saturday at T-Mobile Park — the site of the first Seattle Mariners home playoff game in 21 years — the M’s were doomed.

After losing Game 1 of the American League Division Series on a crushing walk-off home run by Houston Astros slugger Yordan Álvarez, and blowing a midgame lead in Game 2 thanks to another Álvarez dinger, the Mariners faced a do-or-die game on Saturday. And they chose to die in the slowest, most painful way imaginable — playing the longest game in Major League Baseball postseason history and somehow never scoring a single run, losing 1-0. After waiting 21 years for a home playoff game, Mariners fans were treated to two games for the price of one… and got shut out in both of them.

This is no fault of the die-hard Mariners fans who packed T-Mobile Park. Despite being down 0-2 in the series, the atmosphere was electric. Most fans had made it into the stadium at least an hour before the first pitch (many two hours prior), and they hung on all the tension-packed pitches for as long a humanly possible. Even as the game dragged past six hours of scoreless ball (including a 14th inning stretch), the loyal supporters — many of whom had now been there for eight-plus hours — were still getting on their feet and cheering every time an M’s pitcher would get two strikes. They did their best to will their team to victory, but the Mariners refused to not Mariners.
The ominous signs were all there for those looking to see them. Most notably, Mariners legend “King” Felix Hernandez returned for the first time in years to throw out the first pitch. While it was an awesome moment, it was also a precursor. The signature Mariners game during King Felix’s reign was him throwing an absolute gem only for the Mariners’ hitters to provide absolutely no run support, often resulting in a pitching gem being a team loss. The ALDS game was just a Felix game on steroids. Apparently the Mariners somehow find new depths of ineptitude anytime he throws a pitch of any sort in this ballpark.

Another bad omen? Wildfire smoke was at categorically unhealthy levels in Seattle on Saturday, meaning a haze fell over everything. Just sitting and cheering made one’s lungs feel like they were killing time at a dingy casino.

After a thrilling Wild Card series win versus the Blue Jays, it’s hard to really process the Mariners after the ALDS disaster. Sitting in the upper deck, it wasn’t that I was angry or super tense for six hours of the game. I’d been in this park for dozens of less meaningful versions of this game before. At a certain point around the eighth inning, I sort of became numb to it all. I was still on my feet cheering, but the utter hopelessness of the Mariners every time they came up to bat just  made me sort of dissociate from reality. The team legitimately only had one really hard-hit ball (Juilo Rodríguez’s 8th inning double) over six and a half hours. The Mariners hadn’t scored a home playoff run in 21 years. Despite finally making the postseason again, that streak is going to be at least 22 years.

Mariners fans should feel optimistic about the future. They’ve still got a great young core (Julio, Logan Gilbert, George Kirby, Cal Raleigh), and I don’t know if a team that got swept has ever been closer to actually sweeping a series. But after spending a full day at the ballpark watching absolutely nothing, it’s hard to feel anything at all. ♦