Mariners prevail in first clash of American League’s elite
We’re having fun.
It almost feels too early for these teams to be facing off. Shouldn’t this be the game that’s on Sunday Night Baseball—and not just streaming, either?
Seattle fans want more than metrics because the numbers have told them to Believe Big before—and even after that, old school Sports Illustrated said it was Time to Believe again.
Right now, I’m not asking you to believe anything you can’t plainly see: this was the first of at least six meetings between two teams with legitimate championship aspirations. To say they’re the American League’s two best clubs would not be a stretch.
In terms of who’s expected to be going at it come October, it’s the Mariners and the Yankees and then everyone else.
The Yankees are probably thinking “Jesus, if we have to come back here in the fall, is it going to be this goddamn cold?!”
And you know what guys, it might be. It probably won’t be—you could wear shorts to the one ALDS a few years ago. But it could be.
How’s it feel when it’s 40 degrees out and Luís Castillo is running 95 miles an hour in on your knuckles? Probably not great?
Guess so.
The pitching duel most underscored the quality of the two clubs. Castillo is the Mariners’ five, even after they subbed in a different four. Ryan Weathers, quite similar, is the Yankees’ four after multiple injuries ahead of him and he touched 99 from the left side.
Both sides have Dudes—in the lineups and the rotations.
The Mariners have Dudes even when they aren’t starting their best Dude.
But there he was, of course he was, in a couple enormous spots.
Guys aren’t going to bat 1.000 in spots like that, even your best guys—as much as their biggest detractors want them to. That just isn’t how out works.
In a game like that, coming off the bench on a night as cold as any, .500 works just fine, though.
For the club as a whole, maybe that’s the last time they see .500 for a while. Or ever.
It’s fun to daydream.
As another Mariners-centric Seattle voice would say—win a game, win a series.
Logan Gilbert vs. Max Fried tonight at the ol’ ball yard.
Go M’s.
Same as ever, I don’t know what all I want this blog to be. But I do know I want it to be, in part, the things I think and see as I follow the ball club. So this is that.