Brady's Spin: Seattle Mariners Couldn't Accomplish What They Needed to By Sept. 1
About a week ago, I made a revelation on the "Refuse to Lose" podcast. After the Seattle Mariners blew a tough game against the Tampa Bay Rays last Tuesday, I said that I was going to stop treating every game as a "life or death" situation. Rather, I was going to look more big picture at everything.
I said that if the Mariners could just get the American League West deficit down to 3.0 games or less by September 1, I would be happy.
Well, here we are, on Sept. 1. The Mariners are 5.0 games back of the Houston Astros. And look, the Mariners blew that game against the Rays, and they blew Saturday's game against the Angels too, but at the end of the day, the M's have a chance to win another series on Sunday.
All we can ever ask of any team is to just keep winning series. If they beat the Angels on Sunday, they will have won three consecutive series and all three series in the Dan Wilson-era. That would be a huge success and 6-3 over a nine-game stretch would be a success too. They've largely done their part to accomplish my request, but the problem is that the Astros are incredibly hot, and they haven't done theirs.
Also, the Mariners played so unbelievably poorly in June, July and most of August that winning series now aren't enough. Winning six of nine isn't enough. This team needs something special, and while it still could happen, it doesn't seem likely. Special is what you need when you do what they did for two months. Special is what you need when you force yourself into scoreboard watching every move the Astros make.
They've played generally better in the wake of firing Scott Servais, but with the Astros seemingly winning every game, we've ended up in this place yet again: With the M's on the outside looking in.
The Mariners will finish out the series with the Angels, and go for the series win, on Sunday afternoon at 1:07 p.m. PT.
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