Mariners: World Series dreams vanish after loss to Blue Jays

Seattle Mariners: World Series Dream Fades in Toronto

The Seattle Mariners, just eight outs away from their first World Series, saw victory slip away. Season 49 could have been the most painful. Eduard Bazardo allowed a three-run home run by George Springer in the seventh inning, which sealed the Mariners’ defeat to the Toronto Blue Jays with a score of 4-3 in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series.

I hate using the word failure, but it is a failure. What we expected was to reach the World Series and win it. That is the standard and it is what we want to be held accountable for.

Cal Raleigh, Seattle star

After winning their first American League West Division title since 2001, the Mariners had high hopes in October, but World Series aspirations went unfulfilled.

Obviously, it hurts. That’s also part of the game.

Julio Rodríguez, center fielder

Seattle arrived in Toronto with a 3-2 lead in the series, needing only one victory to bring the World Series to the Pacific Northwest for the first time. The only team in the league that has never played in the Series, did not achieve that victory. The Mariners never led during the 6-2 defeat in Game 6, but they took the lead in the first inning of Game 7 when Rodríguez hit a double and scored thanks to Josh Naylor’s single.

Rodríguez’s fourth postseason home run put Seattle ahead 2-1 in the third, and Raleigh added his 65th home run of the year in the fifth, the fifth of the postseason, increasing the lead to 3-1.

Bryan Woo, who returned Friday from a pectoral strain that had sidelined him for nearly a month, replaced starting pitcher George Kirby to begin the fifth inning. Woo walked Addison Barger on five pitches to lead off the seventh, Isiah Kiner-Falefa singled through the middle, and No. 9 hitter Andrés Giménez sacrificed. The Mariners manager, Dan Wilson, brought in Bazardo, who started with an inside sinker to Springer, then left another sinker over the plate, knee-high. Springer hit his 23rd postseason home run. Wilson said he doesn’t regret choosing Bazardo over closer Andres Muñoz.

Make your decisions, and sometimes you have to live and die with them. The way Bazardo has thrown the ball all season, we felt comfortable with the situation. It just didn’t go as we wanted.

Dan Wilson, Mariners manager

Seattle didn’t connect any hits in the last four innings, and the season ended when Leo Rivas, Dominic Canzone, and Rodriguez struck out against Jeff Hoffman in the ninth. I know this hurts and there’s no doubt it’s going to hurt. It’s a special team. It’s a shame we had to come out on the wrong side of this game. Wilson, former catcher, played for Seattle from 1994 to 2005, reaching the American League Championship Series three times. The Mariners had never advanced past Game 6, until this season. We’ve all tasted how close we can get now and how good this team can be. Once you have that, that’s what you’re looking for again next year, and I know that will continue to be the goal.