The Seattle Mariners season is officially dead, folks. All but mathematically, anyway. After another gut-punch loss to the Angels, 6-4, on September 14, where we saw J.P. Crawford tagged out at home in the first inning, those high expectations we all had? They’ve just carried a hefty, crushing fallout.
High Hopes, Crushed Dreams, and a Legend’s Exit
Man, it stings, doesn’t it? Knowing we had dreams for this team, especially with Rick Rizzs, the legend himself, hanging up his headphones and microphone in about 13 days. He’s called more Mariners games than anyone not named Dave Niehaus, and you wanted more for him, for us, for the whole Emerald City, out of this season. But this team just keeps finding ways to remind you why being a Mariners fan is a cosmic curse, a deeply silly baseball team. Seriously, they even managed to ruin Bill Simmons’ fantasy baseball team, which almost certainly means he lost money. The dude has been *crashing out* about our M’s all season on social media and his podcast, and you gotta wonder, who bets money on the *literal* Seattle Mariners? That’s beyond my comprehension, too. So, yeah, there’s that. The rage? It’s real. The tears? They might still be flowing after a season like this.
Nuke It or Nudge It: Our Four Paths Forward
But hey, after we’re done screaming into the void and the tears finally dry, there’s one thing we can “look forward to” if you want to call it that: INSUFFERABLE OFFSEASON DISCOURSE! Or, let’s call it “offseason projections and planning.” Sounds nicer, right? For this mental exercise, let’s just pretend that a strike isn’t looming over everything like a dark cloud. La la la, everything is fiiiiiiine in Labor Agreement Land, la la laaaa.
So, what’s the first step in planning, boss? We’ve got four major directions here, and you gotta pick one:
- Option 1: Full Tear Down. This is the “nuke the site from orbit, it’s the only way to be sure” approach. We can’t rebuild T-Mobile Park to fix those swirling winds, brutal mid-day shadows, or whatever the hell is wrong with the batter’s eye, but we *can* tear down and rebuild the *roster*. If you choose this nuclear option, you absolutely need to specify whether Jerry Dipoto and Justin Hollander stay or go. Plus, you can only keep three (3) players to anchor this whole rebuild. Everyone else? Gone. Julio Rodriguez, Cal Raleigh, who are your three? High stakes for our future, for real.
- Option 2: Soft Rebuild. This option would involve moving two to three of the team’s top players, either based on their WAR or their payroll numbers. The idea is to use whatever returns we get to augment this “reshuffling.” Who are you letting go from our core like Julio Rodriguez or Cal Raleigh to make this work, and what do you expect to get back?
- Option 3: Keep the Core and Soldier On (The 54% Approach). This has been the offseason approach since 2022. It basically means we just ride it out with what we’ve got. Does that sound familiar? Does it sound like it’s working for us, especially with a season that’s mathematically dead?
- Option 4: Dealer’s Choice. Don’t like any of those first three options? Then hit us with your own plan in the comments, boss! Detail your plans, either realistic or as pie-in-the-sky as you want. We gotta get innovative in the hopes that the Mariners will, too. We need some fresh thinking here in the Emerald City.
Even though this Mariners season is ass in a can, we can’t skip our annual tradition! The Fifth Annual TIM CANTU Memorial Softball game is this Sunday, Sept 20, starting at 10 AM at Green Lake Ballfield 1. Let’s get together, blow off some steam, and then we can all go “watch” the Mariners play the Rockies at 12 PM. Because no matter what, we’re still here, still hopeful, and still ready to argue about the future of our M’s.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Lookout Landing.
Leave a Reply