Brady's Spin: Mariners Swoon Brings Up Old Anxieties For Entire Fanbase

The Seattle Mariners have now lost 10 of their last 14 games to bring up the same feelings of dread that have permeated the fanbase for decades.

Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh (29) reacts after striking out against the Baltimore Orioles during the ninth inning at T-Mobile Park on July 2. / Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

There was a period from about 2013-2018 where I never thought that the Seattle Seahawks were going to lose a football game. Obviously, they lost games, but I never felt they were going to lose.

Depending on which year we're talking about, I just always knew, in the back of my mind, that Richard Sherman would intercept a pass, that the defense would create a big sack, or that Russell Wilson would pull a Houdini-style act to get the ball down the field late. No matter how bad it looked early, I just always felt the Seahawks would win.

The 2012 run to the playoffs and the 2013 Super Bowl season just instilled that in me. They built up good capital in my brain and it stayed there until long after they deserved it.

I tell you this only to tell you that the opposite is true for the Seattle Mariners. And I know you feel it too. And you probably have felt this way forever.

See, this organization has almost never built up that emotional capital. Rather than expecting the best, even in the face of tough odds, longtime Mariners fans have always expected the worst, even in the face of success. The 2022 team tried to expel those demons, but it's really hard to break old feelings of heartache. Bad news has seemingly always been around the corner. Justified or not, that's been the perception.

And as the M's go on a swoon that is now 10 losses in their last 14 games, all those anxious feelings are rushing back. Mariners fans fondly remember the comeback season of 1995. Well, we're living it again, only the M's are now playing the role of the California Angels.

I can't find the exact post on social media, but I want to point you to longtime M's Twittersphere leader Nathan Bishop, who said something to the effect that most of M's fandom is just waiting for Lucy to pull the football away from Charlie Brown.

That's exactly right, and it's exactly what's happening now.

We'll see if this group can change that perception, but it takes an awful lot to build up that good faith and emotional capital. And they've rarely done it.

The Mariners will play the Orioles on Thursday at 1:10 p.m. PT.

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