After narrowly missing the post-season in 2021, the Seattle Mariners ended their 21-year playoff drought on the last day of September defeating the Oakland A's 2-1 to clinch an AL Wild Card berth on a walk off pinch hit HR by Cal Raleigh.
The last time the Mariners played October baseball was in 2001 when the team tied a MLB record 116 wins only to fall to the New York Yankees in the ALCS. This was the rookie season of one Ichiro Suzuki. In 2022, it was the rookie campaign of Julio Rodriguez which put the Mariners over the top.
Things did not look promising for the Mariners in mid-June. On June 19th, the team was 29-39. But Seattle would win 22 of its next 25 games leading up to the All-Star Break. While it was enough to challenge the Houston Astros for the division, they firmly placed themselves into the AL Wild Card race. Since the Mariners first took the field in 1977, it is only the fourth time in franchise history they have made the post-season. Prior to 2001, the Mariners made the playoffs in 1995 and in 1997.
The Mariners join the Tampa Bay Rays and Toronto Blue Jays in earning AL Wild Card berths. Unlike the Mariners who had to wait more than two decades for playoff baseball, the Rays earned their fourth straight post-season appearance earlier on Friday with a 7-3 win over the AL West champion Astros. The Blue Jays had the night off on Thursday, but secured their second post-season appearance in the last three years when the Baltimore Orioles fell 6-3 to the Boston Red Sox. The Blue Jays were in the post-season picture nearly the entire season. Notwithstanding their contender status, the Jays fired manager Charlie Montoyo in favor of bench coach John Schneider shortly before the All-Star Break.
Seattle, Tampa Bay and Toronto will be in the mix in the AL Wild Card round with the AL Central champion Cleveland Guardians while the Astros and New York Yankees have earned first round byes. The Jays currently lead the Mariners and Rays in the AL Wild Card standings. Should these standings hold then the Guardians would host the Rays while the Jays would host the Mariners in their respective matchups.
This strikes me as being particularly unfair to Mariners fans. After waiting 21 seasons to see their team in the playoffs, Mariners fans might not be able to see them play post-season baseball if the Mariners are eliminated north of the border. Still, Seattle fans are better off than Baltimore Orioles fans. After seeing their team unexpectedly surge only to trade top player Trey Mancini to the Astros and closer Jorge Lopez to the Minnesota Twins can only wonder what would have happened had the Angelos family let things be.
Unlike the AL, things are still unsettled in both the NL East and NL Wild Card races. The New York Mets and Atlanta Braves will make the post-season. The question is who will win the NL East title and who will be the top seed in the NL Wild Card as the Mets and Braves are currently tied atop the division. The San Diego Padres, who faded down the stretch in 2021, have the second NL Wild Card berth with the Philadelphia Phillies narrowly leading the Milwaukee Brewers by a half game for the third NL Wild Card berth.
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