Mariners’ season on the cusp despite winning series in Houston

The Mariners take two out of three games in Houston and also take the season series versus the Astros, leading to plenty of ‘what ifs’.

If we had told you prior to this season that the Mariners would go 8-5 in their head-to-head matchups with the Astros, fans would have been over the moon. If we had also told you this would include winning this most recent series in Houston by a combined score of 17-6, those same fans would have had thoughts that something special was happening in Seattle.

Indeed this was the case at one point back on June 18, as the Mariners had a 44-31 record and held a 10-game lead in the AL West. However, then it all went terribly and tragically wrong for one of the most cursed franchises in baseball and perhaps in all four of North America’s main professional sports leagues.

As such, even though the Mariners clearly outplayed the Astros during this most recent series, it still wasn’t enough. The home side got the one vital win needed — 4-3 on Tuesday evening — which clinched the AL West.

The opportunity was there for the Mariners

That’s now four consecutive AL West titles for the Astros and seven of the last eight. Make no mistake though, the division was there for the taking this time around, and the Mariners just couldn’t get it done.

In truth, the AL West had seemed pretty much out of reach in the last 10 days anyway. Where the Mariners held more hope was in the wild card race, thanks to disastrous respective runs of form by the Twins and Royals.

However, even here the Mariners let themselves down with some devastating losses, including a 2-1 extra innings defeat at home to the Yankees. This was yet another example of the bats letting the M’s down, mixed in with an unintentional but crucial mistake by Julio Rodríguez.

Now, following Wednesday’s slate of action, the Mariners find themselves on the cusp. If the Royals and Tigers both win on Thursday, then the M’s will be officially eliminated from the playoffs before they begin their final series of the year on Friday, at home to the Athletics.

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An elite rotation

The rotation might not have been quite as light-out in recent weeks, but they were bound to tire eventually, after carrying the team for the majority of this year. Regardless, they still lead the Majors in ERA, WHIP and opposing team batting average.

The issue all along has been an underperforming lineup, which has only caught fire and started playing up to their potential since Dan Wilson took over as manager. However, for the season as a whole, the club has wasted a truly elite starting rotation.

The question is, what comes next for the Mariners? Scott Servais was fired, but a recent report from Ryan Divish and Adam Jude of The Seattle Times, seems to indicate Jerry Dipoto isn’t going to be following him out the door.

Can Dipoto make it work in Seattle?

There have been plenty of rumblings about Dipoto being hamstrung in respect of a lack of financial support from ownership. At the same time however, there was speculation that he had a significant influence over the hitting philosophy in Seattle.

What we would say is it is undeniable, that Dipoto knows how to discover and put together pitching talent. If he has now taken a step back in his alleged involvement in the hitting philosophy since Wilson took over — and either way there has been an improvement — this is a positive sign for the future with the Mariners.

At the same time, don’t take any of this as letting the organisation off the hook. This season had a chance to be something truly special, but instead it turned into one of broken promises and arguably the most frustrating in franchise history.

For that, there is plenty of blame to go around at every level, both on and off the field. Now though, it’s a case of what is done to rectify the situation, as the Mariners prepare for one of their most important offseasons since they started playing in 1977.

N.B. We reserve the right to null and void any statements made that we see fit, in the extremely unlikely event the Mariners somehow do qualify for the playoffs.