2022 Game Eighty-Seven: Mariners 6, Blue Jays 5

 

flippin' it

George Springer hit the first pitch of the ballgame into the seats in left (hey!), and grounded the final pitch of the ballgame softly back to the mound (oh no). In between, there was much to enjoy (further home runs from Bo Bichette and, if you can believe it, Raimel Tapia), but also some stuff that was just a real pain, man, like for example when what should have been a picture-perfect 1-2-3 DP to end the fifth ended up with a ball going right through the webbing of Vladdy's glove (something I have never seen happen in a baseball game ever before it happened earlier this season [also to Vladdy], and now I have seen it twice [it's been two different gloves!]) for a two-run error. The final blow came on another eighth-inning Carlos Santana two-run homer, just like the night before (he hit one earlier in the afternoon Sunday, too), and again it was just like, well, fine. So ends the series sweep, and the one-and-six west coast road trip. 

As the venerable Scott Carson, thirty-year third-man-in-the-booth on Blue Jays telecasts, noted on twitter: "1 win in their last 10 was something that no one saw coming, especially after taking the first 2 of the 5-gamer from the Rays to start the Canada Day weekend. They had the 3rd best record in the AL, the best in the Wild Card. That now seems like a month ago, not 10 days." All true! The only thing that has saved their bacon, to the extent to which their bacon is still redeemable (and I do believe that it is), is that both the Red Sox and Rays have played nearly as poorly over the last ten days, and the Blue Jays are only a game behind Tampa Bay for the second wild card spot, and only two-and-a-half behind Boston for the top one. What complicates things, though, is that the Mariners have now drawn even with the Blue Jays for that final playoff spot, with Cleveland and Baltimore only two games further behind. I correctly predicted (publicly, thank heavens) a four-game Orioles streak of the Angels, and Baltimore is now but one meagre game below .500, and, with eight straight wins, are as hot as any team in baseball (along with the Mariners, also winners of eight straight [ask me how I know]). Can you imagine and AL East with all five teams over .500? That would really be something! When MLB added the third wild card spot, it looked like any team in either league that was at or near .500 was going to be more or less in contention, and so far this season that has very much proven to be the case. Which is fun! And yet also not, in the particular circumstance we find ourselves presently. It is perhaps odd that, given my principled opposition to all playoffs (162 games is plenty), I nevertheless do spend a little while each day fretting about the wild card standings. This is likely to continue. 

KS