Half a mile from the space where one of their sporting neighbors has become famous for generating false starts, the 2023 Seattle Mariners are challenging for the title. In front of a rowdy (especially for a Tuesday night) crowd of 22,671, the night following a raucous, energizing comeback win, the Mariners once again managed to grab the balloon given to them by a teetering opponent and squeeze the air out of it, deflating their fans, their shot at winning, and their dwindling path past the rest of the American League.
Tuesday night’s 7-4 loss was not, at least from my vantage point in First Hill, the worst of the year.