Remembering the 2020 COVID-Year Seattle Mariners on Five-Year Anniversary of Sports Shut Down
March 11, 2020 is a day that will live in sports infamy. That's the day that the sports world, and the world at large, began to shut down.
It was discovered that night that Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert had tested positive for COVID-19, setting off a wave of cancellations and postponements around all of sports.
Happening near the end of spring training, the baseball world specifically shut down for months. There were conversations about playing games at alternate sites, in spring training sites in warmer temperatures, bubble cities, or not playing at all.
There were arguments between baseball owners and the players union about money, as the two sides couldn't easily agree on the length of the season. In a fanless environment, a longer season would have meant more owner payouts with little revenue coming in. The players, obviously, wanted longer seasons which meant more money.
Eventually, we did get baseball: A 60-game season that ran from July 24-Sept 27. The Los Angeles Dodgers eventually won the World Series by beating the Tampa Bay Rays.
Your Seattle Mariners went 27-33 and finished third in the American League West race, missing the playoffs. I've got to admit, that baseball year, like the rest of the year, was a bit of a blur, so lets revisit the COVID-Mariners.
WHAT I VIVIDLY REMEMBER:
1) The COVID Mariners gave us multiple award winners of which I remember perfectly. J.P. Crawford and rookie Evan White won Gold Gloves and Kyle Lewis won the American League Rookie of the Year, hitting 11 home runs.
2) The COVID Mariners, led by Jerry Dipoto, made multiple trades with the San Diego Padres that shaped (and continue to shape) the franchise today. In exchange for Austin Nola, Taylor Williams and Dan Altavilla, the M's acquired future All-Stars Andres Munoz and Ty France, as well as ace reliever Matt Brash. They also got top prospect Taylor Trammell, who didn't quite pan out, but for all the grief Dipoto has gotten from M's fans for failed moves, these were resounding successes.
3) Marco Gonzales should have been a Cy Young candidate. The crafty lefty, who was the M's ace, went 7-2 with a 3.10 ERA. He threw 69.2 innings, making him one of the best pitchers in the American League that season.
WHAT I HAVE VERY LITTLE RECOLLECTION OF:
1) Tim Lopes playing 46 of 60 games for the M's, hitting .238 in 143 at-bats, which was the fifth-most on the team.
2) Phil Ervin, 18 games played.
3) Yoshihisa Hirano, 13 appearances, four saves, second-most on team. He never played in the majors again after 2020.
4) Brady Lail (seven appearances), Nestor Cortes (five appearances), Seth Frankoff (two appearances)
THE ULTIMATE LEGACY
The COVID Mariners will continue to fade into our memory, but ultimately, I'm just happy there was baseball. On a more somber note, the promise showed by White and Lewis was never fulfilled as both suffered major injury attrition and ultimately separated from the organizations. For an M's team that has needed an infusion of position player talent over the last few years, they represent sad cautionary tales.
We talked more about this on the Refuse to Lose podcast, which was released on Tuesday.
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