Alvarez launches game-winner, Oct. 13.   2022 Record MLB rank   (of 30) 2002 Team payroll MLB rank Seattle Mariners 90-72 9 $107 million 22 Houston Astros 106-56 2 $176 million 10     [ MLB Teams With Highest 2022 Payrolls: Dodgers on Top | BetMGM ]

    Wow, that was some ball game yesterday! [Sat., Oct. 8] I am referring of course to the Mariners’ improbable come-from-behind victory in Toronto that eliminated the Blue Jays and sent the Ms to the next round of the play-offs. From my standpoint, it doesn’t rate as a “great” or even a “good” baseball game.   It was just unbelievable, i.e., literally hard to believe, an outlier. I’ve watched a lot of baseball games, (God help me), but I’ve never seen one quite like that. Not that I watched the whole thing.   In fact, I wonder how many Mariners fans, aside from those who were stuck at the “watch party” [i] at T-Mobile Park in Seattle, actually watched the whole game, beginning to end.   The Ms’ starter, Robbie Ray, had a wretched outing, falling behind 4-0 in the early going.   At that point, recalling the previous day’s 4-0 victory by Seattle [ii] , I remarked to my wife, “Well, the old saying ‘Turnabout is fair play’ comes to mind.   The procession of Mariner’s relief pit

  Good luck to the Mariners as they begin their best-of-three series against the Blue Jays later today!   Personally, I don’t think the Ms have a very good chance.   They’re an abysmally poor-hitting team, for one thing, with a team batting average of .228, (28 th (of 30) among all MLB teams.)   The Blue Jays are #1 at .263, blistering by today’s standards.   Not one Mariner hitter is even close to .300.   We can only hope that they can get two (very) good showings from their admittedly good pitching staff. JRod The Ms pulled me in this year.   After a long hiatus, I became a fan again.   I was an avid Mariners fan from 1982, the year 43 year-old spit-baller Gaylord Perry, aptly nicknamed for that one season The Ancient Mariner, picked up his 300 th career win, until 2004, when Edgar Martinez, my favorite player, retired.   That’s 22 years as a fan, watching or listening to most of the 162 games (in non-strike years) every summer.   At the time of my death, presumably, every innin