Mariners Walk Off In The 11th To Keep The Dream Alive

If you’re reading this, it’s probably safe to assume you like the Seattle Mariners. Maybe you even love the Seattle Mariners. If you like, or love, the Seattle Mariners, then odds are you were watching them play tonight. Which means you’ve probably spent your evening feeling some kind of hysterical. And most recently, the best kind of hysterical.

It took eleven innings, many of which were exciting until they were ugly. It took a lot of scoreboard-watching, as we collectively and obsessively checked the A’s-Rangers score. And in the end it took the slumpiest of slumping players running as hard as he possibly could to turn a would-be double play into a walk-off win with everything on the line.

The Seattle Mariners beat the Los Angeles Angels 2-1 in extra frames on Saturday night. They did it in defense of James Paxton, who bounced back from his worst start ever to throw 5.2 innings of one-run ball. They did it, somehow. They did it. They won. They really did it.

5.1 innings of scoreless ball from the bullpen happened. Logan Morrison‘s double happened. Austin Jackson‘s eleventh inning legs happened. The Oakland A’s lost, and game 162 is tomorrow. How is any of this real?

Trailing for most of the game, the M’s tied things in the seventh when Kyle Seager walked and LoMo doubled him home. The rowdiest Safeco Field usually gets is when the home team does something that assures they won’t lose 1-0. They did that, then threatened to do more later in that inning. And again in the ninth, and again in the tenth. Then in the eleventh they did more than threaten. They walked the damn thing off.

Go to Safeco Field tomorrow. Skip work. Why do you work on Sundays? Nobody should have to work on Sundays, or at least not this Sunday. Felix Hernandez is on the mound vs. Cory Rasmus and the rest of the Anaheim bullpen. The game starts at 1:10 and there are still plenty of tickets to be had. Oakland didn’t have to face Derek Holland today, as he wasn’t feeling well. They lost to not-Derek Holland, and so tomorrow they have to face Derek Holland. Holland kills lefties. The A’s can’t hit lefties. Felix starts tomorrow in Seattle.

The Mariners could have won the AL West, you know. They could have overperformed by a bit and won the division. They could have clinched a spot in the wild card game by avoiding their recent stinker of a week. But what’s done is done, and as a result of what happened the Mariners are now in position to treat us to one of the wildest, most unlikely finishes to a regular season we’ll ever see. This was already crazy, and now it’s crazier. And it’s Felix Day tomorrow. What in the hell! Felix! Playoffs! Game 162, and it’s so, soooooooo important. See you there.