A new goal has emerged
A new goal has emerged
If the last two games have shown us anything, the Mariners can hang with the Astros. They will return to T-Mobile Park for a special moment with their fans.
The Seattle Mariners are a damn good baseball team, but the Houston Astros are just better. In fact, we can even say that for the majority of the innings in this series Seattle has looked like the better team.
Houston has Yordan Álvarez and a host of playoff-experienced players who know how to come through in an important spot. Álvarez has killed the Mariners in this series, so much so that he has started drawing comparisons to Barry Bonds.
While he remains a problem, Seattle has been in a position to win both games in this series until the final few innings. They have had a great plan of attack on both starting pitchers for Houston, and have gotten tremendous contributions from their starters.
While a bunch of mistakes sunk Seattle in game one, game two was a different story. The Mariners stepped to the plate in big spots and repeatedly hit rockets that fell into the gloves of Houston defenders. Eugenio Suárez and J.P Crawford were victims of batted ball luck in some of the biggest situations, not to mention Jarred Kelenic missing one of the most significant home runs in Mariner history by a matter of feet.
Seattle has been right on the razor’s edge of winning one or both games in Houston. The reality is this team has a very small margin of error right now, especially against arguably the most complete team in baseball.
In many ways, this matchup feels like the Pistons and Bulls from the 1980s. A superstar has shown up in Seattle that has helped to make them a contender once again, but the bad boys still own the league. Sometimes it takes a few years of being beaten up before finding the Dennis Rodman that pushes you over the edge.
Houston is still the daunting opponent they always have been, but there can be no denying that Seattle is coming, and coming fast. While the first two games didn’t ultimately go their way, this team is proving they are plenty good enough to hang around.
In game three the Mariners will turn to outstanding rookie George Kirby to attempt to save their season in front of a sold-out T-Mobile Park. One of the most important teams in franchise history will look to do what the 1995 Mariners did, come back from a 2-0 deficit.
Nothing that happens this weekend is a failure for this team. They have repeatedly defied the odds and overcome adversity as no others could.
No matter what happens the fans in Seattle will get to celebrate this team one more time. The team that has meant so much to this city is going to be celebrated, and with a win, they earn another home game on Sunday.
A new and obtainable goal has emerged. Let’s play two in Seattle and see what happens.
