Mariners fall to Astros 4-3 and lose AL West for 23rd year in a row
If only there were a pithy thing to say about Houston and having problems
If someone had to watch the Astros celebrate their seventh division title in eight years, it feels fair enough that it be the Mariners seeing as the AL West was, at one time, Seattle’s for the taking. Still had to hurt though. It certainly hurt to watch it play out on TV, the pain dulled only by the familiarity of the experience. But while I do not believe that the Mariners are cursed by fate, I have a hard time imagining how different things would look if they were.
I surprised myself by how much I enjoyed recapping the game when the Mariners were eliminated from the playoffs in 2023. But I just can’t muster the same generosity of spirit this time. It’s always more fun to go on a run and try to pull back into the race than it is to fritter away a lead. For the Mariners to not just fritter away a lead, but to set the record for how fast a team has ever frittered away a 10-game division lead? That’s not just less fun, it’s sports sadism. The Seattle Mariners are simply the kind of franchise that is constantly setting records in the field of frittering.
Was there fun along the way? I guess. Cal Raleigh put together the best season by a catcher in franchise history. The rotation had that record-breaking streak of 21 games without surrendering more than two earned runs. Victor Robles had the sudden star-turn after a change of scenery that doesn’t usually happen to the Mariners. Luke Raley had some fun bunts? I’m forcing it. This squad felt set up to fail by the penny-pinching ownership. And despite the glorious rotation, the weak offense and mid bullpen made it tough to watch even the wins.
If you want to focus on the glorious rotation, I won’t stop you. Logan Gilbert has always been appointment viewing for me, and his breakout year has been a sight to see. He’s spoken repeatedly with Kate about why he developed his splitter in the 2022-23 offseason, and the primary thing about it is that Gilbert was trying to imagine how he would succeed when he lost his fastball. To that splitter, he added a cutter this year, which has made his repertoire an unusually complete one. It’s all headlined by that tight and nasty vertical slider and a fastball that Logan knew wouldn’t last forever. But a funny thing happened: He may not have expected to lose his fastball by 2024, but I doubt he expected it would get better. As he added more torque to his delivery, his fastball just kept getting faster and faster, to the point where he was regularly pumping 99 tonight, on a night when he didn’t even have his best stuff. Even on a bad night, he still crossed a major threshold, becoming just the sixth Mariner with a 200 IP, 200 K season. The Mariners’ playoff hopes are not technically extinguished, and if they do keep breathing through Sunday, we may see Logan Gilbert again. He’s who I’d want on the mound.
To get to the actual recap part of this recap, though, we have to acknowledge that he did not, in fact, have his best stuff tonight. He struck out his typical six batters, but surrendered an atypical three dingers, including a monster shot from Alex Bregman in the first inning. To their credit, the Mariners’ offense put on an unusually valiant effort tonight, racking up nine hits, and they even strung some of those hits together! But not enough, with the runners left on the corners in the eighth the most pathetic ones.
In a just world, Jorge Polanco would get tonight’s Sun Hat Award for individual contribution to a game, in recognition of his four hits and a home run. But since we’re at the end of the year, I’ll bend the rules and call Cal Raleigh’s two hits and two hard-hit outs good enough, in recognition of his seasonlong performance. As I said, it was the best season by a catcher in franchise history.
It’s not quite over for the Mariners’ playoff hopes, but it’s over for the division race. The Mariners’ best chance at an AL West title in at least nine years ended with Josh Hader striking out Julio Rodríguez. That it would end this way is not evidence of a curse, though. Probably.