It feels like one of the most remarkable weeks a baseball team can go through.
In case you weren't keeping score, in a span of seven days we saw the Mariners take part in the following:
- A franchise record 22-0 loss at Milwaukee, tied for the worst in MLB since 1887.
- Back-to-back walk-off wins over the Cubs.
- A franchise record for the worst loss at home, 19-2 at the hands of the Cubs.
- Cal Raleigh hits three home runs to beat the Phillies, a record for most home runs by a Mariner at T-Mobile Park in one game.
Three different records, some good and some bad.
And we still have 30 games to go this season.
Got all that?
It feels like one of the most remarkable weeks a baseball team can go through.
Yet despite all the chaos, Seattle finds itself actually in better postseason positioning than before two record-setting losses.
Indeed Raleigh's breakout night came at the perfect time on the heels of that 17-run loss that deemed to dampen the vibes of actually winning the series over the Cubs.
The three home runs in one night feel like a turning point. Though, you could have said that about his epic grand slam against Cincinnati earlier this year, or the walk-offs against the Cubs, the 8-game win streak in May, or maybe the big game Dom Canzone had earlier this year.
The difference? This almost has to be the turning point.
Just 30 games remain in the Mariners regular season with the M's trailing Texas by three games in the American League West. There's no more "the rally will come"
It just has to.
And there were signs it could be on the horizon, even amid two brutal losses. The games around those saw Cal hitting the ball harder, hitting a home run Friday, that big sweeping swing looking more like "The Big Dumper" that we all know and love.
The team as a whole is heating up, look no further than Monday night when Cal hit three home runs. Julio Rodriguez and Cole Young went yard as well. Josh Naylor also had three hits—by the fourth inning.
What a week.
The Cal Raleigh 3-home run game will never be forgotten, nor will the epic losses.
There is no telling, especially in this most unique season, how the Mariners will finish up. Though, it would seem very on-brand for this team to wait until it was several games under .500 in late August before turning it on.
Or, as the AL West as a whole struggles, the M's being the team with a subpar record but elite playoff rotation should they get there.
The point here is, we just witnessed one of the wildest single weeks in baseball history, there's no two ways about it. Mariners fans can only hope the bad losses become the footnote of a special season.
And before we can even talk about that, the M's have to finally turn that corner, finally capitalize on momentum gained.
The schedule eases up, the Mariners generally rev up in September.
Let's see what the next chapter of this epic novel brings, and hope that this week wasn't the crescendo of a wild, wild baseball season.
