FanPost Friday: Who killed the 2024 Seattle Mariners?

The Mariners got eliminated from postseason contention on their day off. Who is to blame?

Hello and welcome back to FanPost Friday. Like most Seattle Mariners baseball seasons, the 2024 season will end without a postseason berth. For me, any time between 2007 and 2022 I was pretty satisfied, if not completely thrilled, that a Mariners team made it to game 159 or later and were still in contention. But, in 2023 and 2024 we experienced the devastating effects of heightened expectations. After finally getting a taste of the postseason for the first time in 21 years in 2022, the following two seasons have been haunted by those exhilarating memories of Cal Raleigh’s drought-busting pinch-hit home run and by a thrilling (and honestly a bit surreal, like it happened in a fever dream) 2-game Wild Card round victory in Toronto. You could always sense the weight of the expectations when the team’s core players spoke to the press post-game after tough losses in 2023 and 2024. You could see the team’s stars pressing and pressing to get through slumps and losing streaks with no relief in sight from improved roster construction. The budget has been the budget, and even after the influx of cash from the 2022 postseason berth (and the aforementioned heightened expectations), the Mariners ownership group led by John Stanton refused to significantly increase the spending budget on free agents, leaving GM Jerry Dipoto and Assistant GM Justin Hollander to continue to make ends meet via trades, developing prospects, and by finding any possible shiny bit of a player from the scrap heap of the waiver wire. Tarnished former prospects, come on out to the great Pacific Northwest for one last go at your big league career in the most hostile hitting environment imaginable! (Don’t worry, pitchers, we got you. You’ll be fine.)

This flawed approach didn’t work in 2023 and it damn sure didn’t work in 2024, in spite of a MUCH weaker AL West division than previous seasons. It was all there for the Mariners’ taking. The team, as constructed and even with a few good trade deadline acquisitions, simply could not do it. We all saw this coming, yet it hurts again all the same.

So, the Mariners will play three meaningless games against the Oakland A’s, who just played their tragically sad final game in their home stadium. I love the game of baseball, but this season has truly sucked from the perspective of both a Mariners fan and also the perspective of someone who appreciates a sense of justice and fairness in the world. Billionaires run the sport and have taken every step possible to squeeze out as much joy and wonder out of the game as possible in exchange for faster games, more advertising, more sanctioned gambling (!!!), and more profit over everything. And it’s working. Baseball in general is making more money than ever. The Seattle Mariners are doing incredibly well financially. The game, from this fan’s perspective, feels as hollow and rigged as it ever has. The fans lose, yet the passion for the joy of the game persists in spite of everything.

We here at LL truly appreciate y’all for sticking around and reading the site through one of the least enjoyable Mariners seasons of all time. I know that’s a wild statement, but there was something somehow unique to the disappointment of 2024 in comparison to past losing seasons. I honestly had more fun following the team in 2011-2013 when we all knew they were trash and that was okay. They were our trash (and our King, of course).

Moving on, you know what time it is.

HIT. THOSE. POLLS!!!!!

That’ll do it for FanPost Friday for the 2024 regular season. Lots to continue to discuss and rant about this offseason, so we’ll see ya in the comment sections.