December 6th, 2013. Seattle was in full blown holiday mode. The weather was cold, the Thanksgiving hangover was finally wearing off and the moms were out getting their shopping done early. It just so happened that the Seattle Mariners were out shopping as well, and they were looking to bring home the biggest gift of them all. News had surfaced that former Yankee Second Baseman Robinson Cano was taking a trip to Seattle to meet with the Mariners front office. This was huge news for Seattle since the team had not signed a big costless agent since….
Well, let’s just say that it had been a long time. It was like children staying up to catch Santa. The talks went late into the night, and when morning came, no news had surfaced and it seemed that Cano would be leaving Seattle without a deal. Then, just as Mariners fans began to lose hope in the front office like they had so many times before, the news came in that yes, the Mariners would indeed sign the All-Star second baseman. They would sign him alright, and the deal would be monumental. A 10 year, $240 million dollar deal, the largest in Mariners history. That’s a lot of dough. Larger than Felix’s deal an offseason before. The Mariners finally had their superstar position player to go along with the best right handed pitcher in baseball. Of course, fans were still skeptical. Guaranteeing that much money to one player may not be the best plan, especially to a player that would be age 40 before the end of his tenure in Seattle. The problem still remained, however, as to who would bat 4th behind the left handed Robinson Cano. The Mariners looked to fill the void by signing former Brewer Corey Hart and making a trade for Ex Marlin Logan Morrision. Things were looking up for the M’s, but then the injury bug plagued Seattle.
Seattle was ready for another championship. The Seahawks were in the playoffs and looked very strong, and the Mariners had signed the biggest costless agent in this year’s class. On January 25th and 26th, the Mariners held their annual Fan Fest. The name headlining the autograph sessions was none other than Robinson Cano. Fans flocked to Safeco for what would turn into the biggest Fan Fest in Mariners history. The city of Seattle became a sports crazed town and it showed in the turn out to Fan Fest. Fans were even more in awe when players were walking around the stadium with the fans. Guys like Tajuan Walker, Tom Wilhelmsen, Michael Saunders and even Robinson Cano were seen mingling with the fans during the event. Then came the interviews with Jack Z, Dave Sims and Mike Blowers, among other club officials. Each guy said that the Mariners had a different feel this year. They finally had a superstar position player, something they hadn’t had since Ken Griffey Jr. Things truly did feel different this season, and the Mariners looked to deliver.
The pitching staff looked strong for the M’s early in the spring. Then, all of a sudden, Hisashi Iwakuma went down with a finger injury and Taijuan Walker went down with a shoulder injury. This left many question marks in the rotation. That wasn’t a problem for the power arms on the squad. Erasmo Ramirez was placed in the 2 spot in the rotation, with James Paxton in the three hole. Not much was known about who would take over at 4 and 5, but those questions were answered very quickly. Cuban Rookie Roenis Elias, who had never thrown a pitch above the Double-A level, was thrust right into the warzone and became the 4th starter for the Seattle Mariners. At the end of Spring Training, the Mariners signed righty Chris Young, who was coming off of multiple shoulder surgeries. Both pitchers looked to be fill in guys until both Walker and Iwakuma returned. The Mariners left Arizona with many questions still strung above their head. Had they done enough on the offensive side of the game to contend? Can they survive the first month with the variables that they carried in their rotation? Much controversy was spread out amongst the team, but it was too late for changes now, the season was beginning. Game one was the M’s matched up against the Angels in Anaheim, and the Mariners shushed the critics very quickly.
Felix Hernandez got the ball as he has in years past, for game one. Logan Morrison manned the DH spot and Robinson Cano was batting third. The Mariners dominated in game one, backed by the King and a homerun from both Justin Smoak and Brad Miller. Thus, the Robinson Cano era had started off with a bang. Robinson Cano also earned his first hit s a Mariner, beating out an infield squibber down the third baseline. The rest of the series was much like the first game, and the Mariners left Anaheim with the sweep. M’s fans were ecstatic about the hot start to their team and were hungry after the Seattle Seahawks took the Crown in the Super Bowl. The response at the Seahawks parade showed the amount of support that the city of Seattle shows for their sports teams. These fans began to jump on the Mariners freight train that looked like it was finally on track for the first time since the historic 2001 season.
The month of April was crucial to the Mariners. With two series against both Oakland and Los Angeles, the Mariners had a real test to start off the 2014 campaign. They also had 7 games against the Rangers and 3 against the Astros. The M’s were expected to struggle in the first month of the season, especially with Iwakuma and Walker both on the shelf. The Mariners actually played better than many people expected them to, going 10-14 over the month. That is not a fantastic record, but given the circumstances, it was a miracle the M’s made in out of April only four games under .500. Of course, the typical Mariners problems were still prominent in the early going. Offense was not the M’s strong suit. Cano was off to a hot start, but did not have the power numbers we were used to seeing in New York. Justin Smoak and Dustin Ackley both started the season on fire, but the Mariners biggest offensive piece over the past few years, Kyle Seager, was struggling mightily. In fact, the third baseman was hitting below .200 for most of the month, up until the last series with Texas, where Seager mashed 5 home runs batting over .300. Seager would pick it up from there, but the first month of the season was not a friendly one for the slugger. Many fans were worried that April would be the deciding month in the Mariners season, and with a record below .500, many fans were a bit discouraged. The months leading up to the All-Star break however would be very kind to the Emerald City.
The Mariners were about to take off. Hisashi Iwakuma was back, Robinson Cano was earning his paycheck, and Kyle Seager looked to be turning the corner. Both pitchers that were seen as fill in guys were now earning a spot on the roster with astounding numbers. Of course, the injury bug wasn’t done playing its tricks on the Mariners. James Paxton soon went down, followed by Blake Beaven. This didn’t slow down those pesky Mariners though, as the team went 16-14 in the month of May. The Mariners worst days were behind them. They had ended an 8 game losing streak at the end of April. The teams record was just one game under .500 for the first time in years. Many fans looked forward to the later parts of the year. What was in store? Playoffs? World Series? As a matter of fact, the Seattle Mariners and the Washington Nationals are the only teams to have never seen play in the Fall Classic. The Nationals are still making a World Series push in the postseason, so by the end of October, the Seattle Mariners may be the only team in baseball that has yet to make the World Series. Many fans also stayed pessimistic, claiming that the Mariners would blow it again and it would again be a disappointing season in Seattle. And then the month of June came to a close with the Mariners finishing at an 18-10 clip. That was good for putting them 7 games above .500 on the season. At the All-Star break, the M’s were right in the mix for the Wild Card. Seattle was electric. The team sent Fernando Rodney, Kyle Seager and King Felix to Minnesota for the All-Star game, where Felix started the game for the American League. The King threw one inning and posted a zero in the runs column. M’s fans were ecstatic for the rest of the season, but some hardships were going to follow the ASG, and the M’s were ready to respond.
The hype was real. The Mariners were still in the race for the American League after the first half of the season. Seattle, and already massive sports town, was ready to see the Mariners with a winning record for only the third time in the last decade. Of course, there was a few setbacks here and there. Injuries continued to happen, players slumped and the Mariners owned a losing record in the month of July. Again, the city of Seattle was in a massive state of uncertainty. There were games where the offense would explode and score runs off of the game’s best pitchers, then they would return the next day against a pitcher that was struggling and that pitcher would throw 7 shutout innings. The Mariners' offense was an interesting case. One that many fans criticized all season. But some unlikely heroes emerged in August and September. Left Fielder Dustin Ackley turned it on in the 2nd half of the season, hitting .269 while mashing 10 home runs and 36 RBI. The lefty hit .365 in the month of July. Logan Morrison earned the first base job and made the most of it. After the All Star Break, LoMo hit .284 with 6 home runs. The former Marlin also hit .342 in the month of September. Matching these two with the likes of Kyle Seager and Robinson Cano made for an offense that many pitchers should have feared in the later months, but of course, something else had to go wrong.
Felix Hernandez was setting records left and right. He set the record for the most starts in a row with 2 or less earned runs and 7+ innings pitched with 16 such games in a row. His streak came to an end on August 17th, when he threw only 5 innings. Then, for the next few starts, the King was not the King. Felix got lit up and even had his former career high of home runs allowed in a game broken when he gave up 4 long balls against the Washington Nationals. The Mariners pitching staff was beginning to crumble. Roenis Elias seemed to be tired and began throwing upwards of 75 pitches in the first few innings. Elias finished the season by being shut down due to an elbow injury. Chris Young finally seemed to be the guy the Mariners fans expected him to be and he lost his rotation spot during the month of September. Hisashi Iwakuma began to show signs of being human and watched his ERA spike over his last few starts. The bullpen that had been so good early was beginning to lose its steam and its members seemed to be out of gas. With that being said, the Mariners were still contending. With just one series left in the season, the Mariners sat 3 games out of the second Wild Card finishes and were faced with one of the most improbable tasks in the MLB if they wanted to make the playoffs.
It was the end of September. The Angels were making their way into town as the Mariners sat three games back of the Athletics for the second Wild Card Spot. To make it to the postseason, the Seattle Mariners would have to sweep the Angels, who owned the best record in baseball, while the Athletics would have to lose the series to the Rangers, who owned the 3rd worst record in baseball. This seemed like an impossible feat, and many fans had already written the Mariners off. Game one came along for the M’s, and the Rangers had already lost to the Athletics. That meant that with a Mariners loss, they would be out of the postseason contention. The M’s responded, scoring 3 runs in the second inning and one in the 5th to pull out a 4-3 victory against Jarrod Weaver and the mighty Angels. The Mariners were going to live on to see another day. The entire season was on the line for the M’s. With an Athletics win or a Mariners loss the rest of the season, the Mariners would be eliminated from postseason contention. The suspense was killing the fans of Seattle. They had faced so many heartbreaking seasons with the team in recent years, and with something finally on the line, the M’s were not going to make it any easier their fans.
Game two was a matchup of lefties with Rookie James Paxton against the veteran CJ Wilson. The Angles scored one run in the second inning, and the Mariners offense looked dormant again until Logan Morrison drove in a run on a double in the 7th, tying the game at 1. The Mariners had a chance to win it in the 9th with the bases loaded and no outs, but two strikeouts and a fly out by Austin Jackson ended the threat. It was not until the 11th, after the Athletics had already lost, that Austin Jackson returned to the plate with runners at 1st and 3rd and one out. A ground ball to the second baseman gave the Angels a chance turn the double play, but Austin Jacksons speed came into effect and he beat out the fielder’s choice sending the M’s to a walk off win, keeping their playoff hopes alive. The fans went absolutely wild. The entire season would come down to game 162. If the Athletics lost the next day and the Mariners won, there would be a one game play-in round at Safeco Field between the Athletics and the Mariners. The Mariners would be sending in the cavalry for game 162. King Felix would toe the rubber in one of the most important Mariners games in this century.
The Athletics and Rangers had a 12:05 start time, while the Mariners owned the 1:10 slot. That meant that it was likely that the game in Texas would end during the Mariners game. Therefore, the intensity in the stadium would be determined by the outcome of the game down south. The Athletics scored early, with 2 runs in the 2nd. The Mariners were scoreboard watching all day, and they knew that today was a must win game. The offense did not disappoint. They were up 4-0 through the 4th. Felix was on his game, allowing just one hit while fanning 7, but it would not matter. The Athletics would end up winning the game in Texas 4-0. When the fans saw the score go final, they gave the M’s a standing ovation in the middle of the inning. That was the first of many to come. Lloyd McClendon came out in the middle of the inning to remove the King from the mound so that he could get an ovation from the crowd. Then, Robinson Cano was removed from the game, receiving his own ovation and then finally Austin Jackson was removed. The Mariners would win the game 4-1, improving their record to 87-75. The Mariners had finished with a winning record for only the 3 time in the last decade. The Mariners finished only a half game back of the second wildcard spot. They missed the postseason by inches.
Despite missing the postseason for the 13th straight year, 2014 was a very successful year for the Mariners. Felix Hernandez is well on his was to his second career Cy Young. Fernando Rodney was the American League saves leader, breaking a Mariners single season record. Kyle Seager hit a career high in home runs and RBI. Dustin Ackley looked like he was finally becoming the player the M’s envisioned when they drafted him above Mike Trout. The bullpen led the American league in ERA. They had a proven center fielder in Austin Jackson. Lloyd McClendon seemed to be the manager that the Mariners had been longing for since the departure of Sweet Lou. But the biggest factor of all: Robinson Cano’s first season in Seattle was a success, and he played a much larger role than anybody else realized. He often was a silent leader, but his actions did not go unnoticed. Safeco Field broke two million fans for the first time in years. 2014 was the Cinderella year for the Mariners, and they did end up being the Dark Horse of the American league.
The Mariners have a lot to look forward to in the next few years. The offseason will be essential for the M’s. The need for a big bat is prominent. From many fans perspectives, 2015 is playoff or bust sort of year for the M’s. The Mariners will be criticized on every move they make this offseason. That is just the way of life for a team with high expectations. As the playoffs role on, the Mariners front office will be engaged in dialog involving the biggest needs for the team. A big bat will need to make its way to Seattle, whether it be via costless agency or trade. The Mariners should not make too much noise on the pitching side of things, as the rotation looks strong for next year along with the bullpen. Therefore, the Mariners can focus all their assets on idea of bringing in a big bat. Likely, the bat will be a 1B/DH type guy or possibly a corner outfielder. The Mariners have come out and publicly said that the payroll will increase again this coming year, meaning that the team will have more flexibility. While no Robinson Cano caliber deal will be made by the M’s this offseason, it will surely be an interesting winter in the Emerald City. One that could decide the fate of this team for years to come.