The Seattle Mariners saw their dream of reaching the World Series vanish just eight outs away. The team’s 49th season could be remembered as 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 the seventh game of the American League Championship Series.
After winning their first American League West Division title since 2001, the Mariners had high expectations for October, but their aspirations of reaching the World Series were cut short.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 goal and the standard, and it is what we want to be held accountable for.
Cal Raleigh, Seattle star
Seattle arrived in Toronto with a 3-2 series lead, needing only one victory to bring the World Series to the Pacific Northwest for the first time. However, 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 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 inning, 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 at the start of the fifth inning. Woo walked Addison Barger on five pitches to lead off the seventh, Isiah Kiner-Falefa singled to center, and No. 9 hitter Andrés Giménez sacrificed. The Mariners manager, Dan Wilson, sent Bazardo, who started with an inside sinker to Springer, then left another sinker over the plate, at knee height. Springer hit his 23rd postseason home run. Wilson said he did not regret choosing Bazardo over closer Andres Muñoz.Obviously, it hurts. But it’s also part of the game.
Julio Rodríguez, center fielder
Seattle didn’t get any hits in the last four innings, and the season ended when Leo Rivas, Dominic Canzone, and Rodriguez were struck out against Jeff Hoffman in the ninth.You 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 the way we wanted.
Dan Wilson, Mariners manager
Wilson, former catcher, played for Seattle from 1994 to 2005, reaching the American League Championship Series three times. The Mariners had never gotten past Game 6, until this season.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.
Dan Wilson, Mariners manager
All of us have now tasted how close we can get and how good this team can be. Once you have that, that’s what you fight for again next year, and I know that will continue to be the goal.
Dan Wilson, Mariners manager