As I write this today, with our beloved Seattle Mariners closer to the playoffs than they have been in twenty-one years, my mind is racing in all directions.
I think about the players who never got to see this playoff run. We’re talking Adrián Beltré, Kyle Seager, José López, Hisashi Iwakuma, Nelson Cruz, Robinson Canó...the list goes on and on, but it’s capped by, of course, Félix Hernández.
I think about how my fandom has evolved. I first became a Mariners fan during that 2001 season, claiming the playoffs as my birthright and a record-tying number of wins as standard fare.