It started with a four-run swing that turned into a four-game sweep.
The team that seemingly folded at the MLB trade deadline sank the team that went all in, and just like that — hope returned to Marinerville.
In each of the two previous seasons, both of which resulted in 90 wins, the M's have produced a percentage of pixie dust that was far and away above the league average — pulling come-from-behind, one-run and extra-innings victories from out of their swelmets regularly.
But that brand of magic was followed by a vanishing act this year, in which all the close and comeback wins disappeared. Then came that sweep over the Angels from Thursday through Sunday, which punctuated a five-series winning streak that's bringing back all that optimism that swirled around Seattle before opening day.
Facts: The Mariners (60-52) have won five consecutive games and 10 of their past 12 to surge higher above .500 than they have been all year. They are three games behind the Blue Jays, who have won four in a row, in the American League wild-card standings — but are ahead of all the other teams chasing that final spot.
This is essentially a race for 90 wins — an arbitrary number folks have deemed necessary to make the AL playoffs. That number could be a game or two higher or lower, but as the venerable Larry Stone tweeted Monday, the Mariners were 58-54 in 2021 and 60-52 in 2022, and ended up with 90 dubs both years.
Why 90 wins could happen again: Seattle's schedule over the next three weeks might be its most accommodating stretch of the season. Eighteen of the Mariners' next 24 games are against teams with sub.-500 records (Padres, Athletics, White Sox, Mets, Royals). Oakland (32-81), which they'll play three times, and Kansas City (36-78), which they'll play seven times, are particularly pitiable. Chicago isn't much better at 46-68.
Expecting the Mariners to emerge from those 24 contests another, say, eight games above .500 is optimistic, but not unrealistic, thinking. Yes, they've spent much of the season teasing fans with short bursts of success only to regress back to mediocrity, but the ingredients for returning to the postseason are intact.
Namely, the pitching.
The Mariners have held opponents to three runs or fewer in six of the past eight games, with their starting pitchers delivering quality starts in five of them (the other was Sunday, in which Bryce Miller gave up one run in five innings). And though the sample size is short, the M's' bullpen has not dropped off since the trading of closer Paul Sewald, as the arsenal of arms has carried them in the latter parts of the game.
You're also seeing a hopeful superstar in the making — Julio Rodriguez — start to rediscover his rookie-year form, as his OPS has ticked up from .709 on July 24 to .754 through Monday.
He's had his clutch moments, too. Whether it was a two-run, tying home run against Minnesota in the eighth last month, or an eighth-inning double that led to the go-ahead run versus the Angels last week, Julio has begun to make up for his previous shortcomings in high-leverage situations.
Of course, nobody has had a more clutch at-bat for the M's this season than Cade Marlowe did in the ninth inning Thursday in Anaheim, Calif. The rookie outfielder — who has just 42 major-league plate appearances to his name — basically erased a legendary two-way performance by the Angels' Shohei Ohtani by blasting a grand slam to put Seattle up 5-3, which would end up being the final score. Oh, and the dinger came off All-Star closer Carlos Estevez, who blew his first save of the season.
There is a phrase a colleague and I use sometimes called "Kearsing it," — a reference to former Seahawks receiver Jermaine Kearse. Kearse, remember, made one of the more improbable catches in Super Bowl history late in the fourth quarter against the Patriots, only to have his feat eliminated from the memories of most fans after Seattle lost.
Perhaps Marlowe's grand slam will be "Kearsed" by season's end if the Mariners fail to make the playoffs. It wouldn't go down as the catalyst to another unlikely postseason run by the M's, but rather an entertaining swing that his grandkids won't stop hearing about.
I don't know, though. There has been something about this team the past couple of years that make it seem as if that Marlowe long ball was the start of something special. The odds are still against the Mariners making the playoffs, but they have a shot. And it ain't that long anymore.
