After an excruciating 21 years of mediocre baseball, repeated disappointment, and a fanbase succumbing to annual heartbreak, the Seattle Mariners of MLB clinched a postseason spot in 2022.

The dramatic conclusion came on a long home run ball launched off the bat of newly labeled Seattle folk-hero, Cal Raleigh, who is affectionately referred to as “Big Dumper” by the fanbase and his teammates. 

The organization, who are infamously known for collapsing in the midst of seasons thought to have potential to break the drought, finally broke through. 

A mere single postseason appearance may not bear much meaning to most teams and fans, but for a franchise who owned the largest absence from postseason play in all four of the North American major sports leagues, lifted an avail of pressure and expectations off their shoulders.

Coming into the season, the Mariners were expected to improve off the multitude of improvements they made in the 2021 season, organizationally. 

The team, composed largely of young, inexperienced players fighting to maintain footing in the major leagues severely overperformed according to national media standards, winning 90 games, while being eliminated from playoff contention on the last day of the season.

The campaign provided plenty of entertainment for fans, which came as a surprise to those who had predicted yet another sub-500 season . 

The organization appeared still firmly in the process of rebuilding; tearing down the previous older, aging club to rebuild with younger prospects meant to vault the team into annual contention.

However, using an unorthodox method of grinding out close games, winning continually in extra innings, and defying the logic of continually pulling out wins playing in a sizable amount of one-run games, they nearly ended the drought at least a year ahead of schedule.

Fans whose belief had started to waver began to take notice, noting the infectious energy the team played with, displaying an evident joy for the game, and a strong relationship with one another.

“It was fun. They played a lot of strange games, but it was run”.

Jerry RIggs was just one of those fans, who’s interest in the club was reignited unexpectedly.

In 2022, however, following an active offseason that saw multiple significant additions whoi’s presence signaled a firm indication that the team was prepared to compete, further improvement, and subsequently, a playoff berth was expected, and in some cases, demanded by fans and players alike.

What resulted was a season who’s earlier stages featured several tumultuous stretches of baseball consisting of both hot, and freezing-cold stretches.

By June, they had dug themselves a hole that saw them ten games below 500, labeled one the worst teams in the American League, and rapidly losing fan’s newfound trust in the direction of the organization.

Bearing a drastic 180, the season was likely already over, extending the drought and further inflaming the tensions of players and fans.

Instead, they reeled off a near-franchise record 14 game winning streak and headed into the All Star break nine games over 500 and as one of the hottest teams in the league.

The stretch of baseball that these, essentially kids, played for the last three months of the season was near unimaginable, and defied everyone’s perceptions they had formed of the Seattle Mariners after watching them for the past two decades.

It was capped off by Big Dumper’s blast, cementing his legacy in Mariner history, and reviving Wahington’s faith in them. 

Local watchers were in disbelief – the clinch was something out of a movie; utterly surreal; a script couldn’t have better depicted the mayhem that insured in T-Mobile Park and all of Seattle and its neighboring cities.

“I woke up in the house screaming. It was worth it.”

Noah Lee was just one of the rowdy fans at almost 11 at night, experiencing unfamiliar feelings for the first time in his lifetime: the Seattle Mariners were heading to the playoffs. 

The 2022 season serves as a presumptive precursor for what’s to come – expectations have yet again been raised to proving themselves one of the best teams in the world.