Tag: Seattle Mariners

Yordan Álvarez had a cold-blooded reaction to his walk-off 3-run shot that sent Astros fans into a frenzy

Imagine being THIS calm in such a historic moment.

One of the biggest reasons the Astros seemingly make deep runs every October is that they have players who don’t shy away from the moment. When it’s time for a big hit or catch, someone usually comes through and plays hero for Houston. This was precisely the scenario for Yordan Álvarez against the Mariners (-1.5) on Tuesday.

With the Astros down 7-5 in the bottom of the ninth inning, they needed someone to finish the job on their last out against Robbie Ray. Given the ensuing result for Álvarez, it’s almost as if they couldn’t have picked a better person to get that coveted (eventual) 8-7 final score.

And when you see Álvarez’s initial reaction to a three-run, walk-off shot to win Game 1 — compared to an absolutely raucous Astros crowd anyway — it’s certainly a man who has been there and done that:

Oh my. What a blast to right field, and what a shot of an entire stadium going crazy while Álvarez simply stares his home run down and calmly trots around the bases.

Let’s see another angle of that crowd for electric posterity:

Álvarez’s shot made some history, too. It’s not only just the second walk-off homer for a team down to its final out in playoff baseball history, it’s also the first for a squad down multiple runs:

Kirk Gibson is quite the company to share. Not to be overlooked: The homer capped a stellar three-hit, five-RBI performance for Álvarez.

If this is how the Astros will play all postseason — getting timely plays whenever they need them — then they might be an even tougher out than anyone thought.

MLB fans crushed the Mariners’ decision to have Robbie Ray face Yordan Alvarez in the 9th

What was Scott Servais thinking?!

In many ways, playoff baseball is a different game than regular season baseball. The stakes are higher, every personnel decision is made with future matchups in mind and, often times, managers can overthink situations.

Seattle Mariners manager Scott Servais appeared to fall into that trap during Tuesday’s Game 1 of the ALDS in Houston. And it backfired in a huge way.

While the Mariners have used a closer-by-committee for much of the season, Paul Seward had emerged as the most reliable closer for Seattle. He recorded 20 saves with a 2.37 ERA, but he had struggled in a couple recent outings and clearly lost Servais’ trust. When he got in trouble once again in the ninth inning and Yordan Alvarez at the plate with two outs, two on and a two-run lead, Servais opted to go for the lefty-lefty matchup.

He turned to starting pitcher Robbie Ray — on two days rest — who had never recorded a save in his big-league career. He was also coming off a rough spell of allowing six home runs in his past three appearances. Guess what happened …

On an 0-1 count, Alvarez completely smoked a 93 mph fastball from Ray for a walk-off, three-run homer to give the Astros a comeback 8-7 win.

Again, this was a ridiculous move from Servais who over-managed the matchup at the worst possible time. Starters are starters and closers are closers. He chose to mess with that dynamic in a playoff game with one of the AL’s best power hitters at the plate. There’s no way to defend it.

Even with the benefit of hindsight, MLB fans were right to crush that decision.

Security footage showed the most wholesome reaction to the Mariners’ miraculous comeback

The definition of pure happiness.

The Mariners were trailing the Toronto Blue Jays by seven runs in the sixth inning of Saturday’s AL Wild Card Game 2, and by all accounts, the outlook was bleak for Seattle.

But as the Mariners have done for much of this season, they found a way to win to the absolute delight of postseason-starved Mariners fans. All it took was a look at some security footage from a Seattle car dealership to know just what that comeback 10-9 win meant to Mariners fans.

Video hit Twitter on Monday showing security footage from a Toyota service center in Seattle. And we could see as several employees went completely nuts as the Mariners finished off the comeback. We didn’t even need audio — the video spoke for itself.

The best part had to be when the fourth employee skipped into the frame and joined the group for a celebratory dance huddle. I mean, it doesn’t get more delightful than that. It was the epitome of pure joy.

MLB fans everywhere particularly loved this footage, and we can’t blame them. It was phenomenal.

Blue Jays’ epic collapse against Mariners was an all-time bad beat

This one will sting for a long time.

Facing elimination, the Toronto Blue Jays jumped out to an 8-1 lead in the fifth inning of Game 2 of their American League Wild Card series against the Seattle Mariners.

Before they could even let the sure victory sink in, the lead was cut to 8-5 the next inning. Four innings later, their season was over. The Blue Jays lost the game 10-9.

It was an epic postseason collapse, one not seen since 2008 — and only one other time before that had a team blown a seven-run lead in the playoffs. For those who bet on Toronto to win, which was pretty much everybody, it was an all-time bad beat.

Toronto had a win probability of 99%! And 80% of moneyline bettors at BetMGM picked the Jays to win, which looked promising when starting pitcher Kevin Gausman was pulled to a standing ovation.

Then the bullpen proceeded to meltdown, and a season that started with so much promise for Toronto ended in severe disappointment. This one is going to sting for a long time.

[mm-video type=video id=01geqjtkgqmgdc0eb4rx playlist_id=none player_id=none image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01geqjtkgqmgdc0eb4rx/01geqjtkgqmgdc0eb4rx-5d411cb1b927221cec3c42e210b98a9a.jpg]

[listicle id=1971030]

Seattle’s Andrés Muñoz threw a 103 mph strike that had everyone, including Vlad Guerrero Jr., in awe

This pitch was ridiculous. And beautiful.

The Seattle Mariners haven’t been in the playoffs since 2001 but they looked right at home in Game 1 of their wild-card series with the Blue Jays on Friday afternoon, winning 4-0 in Toronto to take a 1-0 series lead.

The Mariners pitchers – starter Luis Castillo and reliever Andrés Muñoz – were so good all day long and showed why this Seattle team could be a lot of trouble in the playoffs.

Munoz pitched the eighth and ninth innings to get the save and the dude was throwing pure gas for his entire outing. This 103 mph pitch that he threw for a strike against Vlad Guerrero Jr. was just ridiculous.

Love the head nod there from Vlad. He knew how good that pitch was.

Oh, and that was just the fastest pitch we’ve seen in the playoffs in five years:

Twitter loved it.

MLB finally(!) got something right with its new playoff format

The new-look playoff format is pretty perfect.

This is the online version of our daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Subscribe to get irreverent and incisive sports stories, delivered to your mailbox every morning.

MLB’s 162-game regular season is over and it’s now time to get serious. I’m talking about some playoff baseball, folks, where championships are won and legacies are made.

This year’s playoff format is going to look different to all of us, with one more team added in each league and with the two top seeds in the AL and NL getting a bye through the wild-card round.

I think the addition of teams is actually a great move for baseball, which needs all the help it can get these days. Adding two more fanbases – Seattle and Philadelphia this year – only adds the excitement and puts more eyes on the product, which is a good thing.

The NFL recently added a team to the playoffs in each conference and that feels like a little bit of overkill. The NFL is a huge beast that doesn’t need to worry about having eyes on its product.

MLB, however, needs to find ways to attract fans and this does just that. Think those fans in Seattle, who haven’t seen their team in the playoffs since 2001, aren’t going to bring something extra to the postseason experience when their series with the Blue Jays kicks off? Think those Phillies fans aren’t ready to go nuts while playing the Cardinals in their wild card series?

The other two series have the Rays facing the Guardians and the Mets squaring off with the Padres.

It’s all pretty great for baseball, which is a wild thing to say because I’m used to Rob Manfred screwing everything up.

The two wild card series in each league will be best-of-3 series, which works, too. Sure the one-and-done games in the past were a lot of fun but after 162 games it does make a little more sense to give each team more of a fighting chance.

Allowing the top teams to have byes is good, too, because they deserve to have a little extra rest as a reward for what they accomplished in the regular season.

All this playoff action starts Friday and while regular season baseball can be a long drag at times, baseball’s postseason is one of the best postseasons in all of sports and I can’t wait for it.

Quick hits: Draymond Green-Jordan Poole altercation… Shohei Ohtani’s hilarious ‘threat’… So long, Roger Maris Jr…. And more. 

Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

– Things apparently got heated during a Warriors practice session yesterday. Here’s everything we know about the Draymond Green-Jordan Poole altercation.

– Shohei Ohtani made a hilarious ‘threat’ to A’s first baseman Seth Brown after being hit by a pitch.

– Aaron Judge’s 62nd home run means we can say so long to Roger Maris Jr., which is nice.

– Here are the top 5 most watchable college football games this week.

[listicle id=1969420]

[mm-video type=video id=01gen7vvr3a6h3ed3mcf playlist_id=01f09p3bf720d8rg02 player_id=none image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01gen7vvr3a6h3ed3mcf/01gen7vvr3a6h3ed3mcf-786822fc954c8259d130b5fdb7fa6043.jpg]

What the world was like the last time the Seattle Mariners made the playoffs

This list is going to make you feel OLD.

The Seattle Mariners are playoff bound for the first time in 21 years.

And what an epic entrance into the postseason it was, too. Cal Raleigh hit a game-sealing homerun that also sealed the Mariners’ first playoff berth. It was such a fitting end to what has turned out to be a magical season for Seattle.

But, obviously, 21 years is a long time. That means the last time the Mariners made the playoffs was in 2001. Someone who hadn’t even been born yet might be able to legally drink a beer in that time span.

So we thought it’d be fun to take a look back and see what the world was like the last time the Mariners made the playoffs. Below is that list. And it’s almost certainly going to make you feel old, but it’ll also be a fun trip down memory lane.

Enjoy.

[lawrence-related id=1967655]

Cal Raleigh’s epic walk-off home run that sent the Seattle Mariners to the playoffs, in photos

Cal Raleigh is a legend in Seattle forever

For the first time since 2001, the Mariners will be going to the playoffs. And for the rest of his life, Cal Raleigh will forever be a legend in Seattle. He gave the city’s baseball team the biggest moment it has seen in two decades.

Things were simple for the Mariners coming into Friday night’s game against the A’s. All they needed to do was win and they’d be playoff bound.

A win was far from guaranteed, though. The game came down to the bottom of the 9th inning with both teams only having scored one run. The Mariners were on their final out of the inning when Cal Raleigh came up to bat.

Then this magic happened.

And for the first time in 21 years, the Mariners are going to the playoffs. The crowd went crazy. Bliss covered the entire team. It was a moment for Seattle sports.

Here it all is in photos.

Umpire Adrian Johnson actually ejected Robbie Ray and Luke Weaver over pregame standoff

Ump hates fun.

Pitchers Robbie Ray and Luke Weaver were teammates in Arizona for a couple seasons, and that friendship clearly carried on to their new spots with the Mariners and Royals.

But we have now learned that there is no place for friendly competition when umpire Adrian Johnson is around.

Ahead of Sunday’s game between the Mariners and Royals, both Ray and Weaver stood at the dugout steps to have a good, old-fashioned national anthem standoff. And the two players were so committed to the standoff that the umpires had to get involved.

The two pitchers probably didn’t expect the umpires to take the standoff so seriously, but Johnson could not have been more annoyed.

After Johnson initially told them to cut it out and go to the dugout with little success, the umpire actually ejected both players. We could see as he made note in his scorebook, and Ray didn’t seem to realize it as he was celebrating the standoff victory. They announced the ejection in the press box as well.

You don’t see that happen too often.

Ray wasn’t scheduled to start on Sunday, and it was unlikely that Weaver was going to see action. So, the ejections didn’t have any impact on the game. MLB fans did use the ordeal as an opportunity to roast the umpire, though. It was another example of baseball getting in its own way when it comes to fun displays of personality.

Luis Castillo threw a 99 mph pitch with so much movement that fans thought it was powered by remote control

This might be the coolest pitch of the MLB season.

We’re living in a time where Major League Baseball pitchers are throwing just the most ridiculous pitches in the history of the game. And we’re reminded of that just about every day by so many different dudes who take the mound and find cool ways to make hitters look silly.

The latest example of that came Wednesday in Seattle when Mariners pitcher Luis Castillo struck out Padres slugger Juan Soto with a 99 mph two-seamer that had so much movement on it that it left fans in awe while wondering how it was evenly physically possible to throw such a pitch.

Check this thing out:

I mean, come on! That was just ridiculous. It was in the strike zone and then… it very much was not.

Twitter was in awe.