ANAHEIM, Calif. — The circumstances were supposed to be different for James Paxton for the final start of the 2017 season. When it was lined up three weeks ago, the thinking was that if the Mariners needed to win on the final day of the season to get into the American League wild card game, or force a play-in game to get into the wild card, they wanted their best pitcher on the mound.
Instead, the big lefty took the mound on Sunday at Angels Stadium in a season finale that would ultimately be a meaningless 6-2 loss.