Episode 295: The Mariners Are Undefeated In The Etsy Witch Era

00:00:00 Speaker 1: Welcome to episode number two ninety five of the Marine Layer Podcast. The Mariners have won nine in a row. They're alone in first place in the American League West. We'll give our takeaways from the weekend and look ahead to the road trip coming up against Kansas City and Houston. 00:00:15 Speaker 2: Reminder to you guys, if you want to stay on top of everything we're doing, you can go right over to our website. That's marine layerpod dot com where you can find everything, all of our episodes, our merch go get your merch Patreon, and our live show schedule. That's at marine layerpod dot com. And then you can check us out on social media at marine layer Pod. 00:00:33 Speaker 1: Let's get it rolling, and we welcome you to this episode of the Marine Layer Podcast, part of the Just Baseball podcast network, recording here on Sunday evening, September fourteenth. And I think if the Mariners get the job done and win this American League West, they need to build the Etsy Witch a statue inside the ballpark. We have Daveney House out there in the outfield. I think they need to find room for the Etsy Witch spell by Luna Goes in the ballpark forever. 00:01:13 Speaker 2: Where's it getting placed. 00:01:16 Speaker 1: Hmmm, where do we need the most vibes at oh? 00:01:20 Speaker 2: In the pen? Perfect. I was gonna say, you could put it on the third deck so it watches over the entire ballpark for eternity. 00:01:31 Speaker 1: So our two options are, I think, either down in the pen, or we could put it put it on a lookout landing the. 00:01:37 Speaker 2: Tried and deck. 00:01:38 Speaker 1: You mean yeah, the Trient deck. 00:01:39 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, areo good options. 00:01:43 Speaker 1: Although I mean they could put it behind home plate, there's a lot of space back there. 00:01:48 Speaker 2: I would probably put it on the Trident deck. To be honest, Let's be real, if they put that thing in the pen, somebody's gonna destroy it. 00:01:54 Speaker 1: But I think that would be funny from a content perspective. Think of all the drunk people who aren't fans of baseball wondering why there's a spell by Luna Etsy Witch statue in the pen. They would be really confused, as opposed to the third deck, where maybe thirty to forty percent of all the patrons in the ballpark actually go up there. And most people go to the third deck aren't really up there to hang out. They're just gonna go right to their seats. Meanwhile, the pen, I mean it's just a mosh pit of people walking through all the time. I feel like it's great from a visibility perspective. Get your bang for your buck. 00:02:33 Speaker 2: Imagine us having to explain, or just people out in the pen having to explain to other people what the point of that statue is. It's gonna be that meme of the guy man explaining something in the ear of a girl. You know what I'm talking about. 00:02:45 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's. 00:02:47 Speaker 2: Gonna be that. It's like, so, look, this online witch allowed the Mariners to win nine straight games and potentially more and anchor their way to the Al West. Like as you're like it in somebody's ear, all I'm saying. 00:03:03 Speaker 1: Before the Witch cast her spell, the Mariners were trailing the Astros by three three and a half games in the West. They were only a half game up on a wild card spot. The season was looking grim, and now the mirror's magic number of single digits and we're feeling great. 00:03:22 Speaker 2: It's everything we want. I mean, it is amazing that just over a week ago the vibe around the team was season's over. It. 00:03:34 Speaker 1: Let me say this, yeah, it helps you played some really bad teams in the week since the Braves, the Cardinals, and the Angels. The Angels, by the way, you know, I thought when I watched them this weekend, they've mailed it in. 00:03:47 Speaker 2: Yeah. By the way, let me let me clarify, I'm not taking the vibe around the team. AKA, the players themselves were thinking seasons over. I have every every like I have absolutely no doubt that that is not what they believe. But on the fan base, so there was there was a lot of seasons over talk. Yeah, to answer your question, the Angels look like they actually have mailed it in. 00:04:08 Speaker 1: There were there were some somewhat serious conversations between Lyle and I that the division was out of reach. 00:04:15 Speaker 2: I mean it felt out of reach. It did. 00:04:17 Speaker 1: I was like, you, just you have to focus on the wildcard, don't worry about the division. Just win enough games to keep Texas away. But then Texas keeps winning games, and the Mariners head home and they win more games than the Rangers and have put themselves in the position they're in. The Angels though, man, yeah, I mean watching some of their effort on some plays that this is just me as a fan watching from afar, it looked like the season was already over and that's to the Mariner's benefit. They took full advantage of it. And by the time he got the Sunday the wheels just fell off. In that inning. It was just over jogging in the outfield, like Kyle. They were just leaving Kyle Hendricks out there just to just to get shelled. Yeah, there's no urgency at all. They have a manager who I don't know, I've never heard of before, because Ron Washington managed this team for like a month and then just was like, I'm good. 00:05:12 Speaker 2: As you put it on Saturday. To me, he quiet quit, quiet quit. 00:05:16 Speaker 1: I do believe he had a medical thing that kept him from managing, but he had been the manager for legitimately one month and then was done. Like that is the Angels for you, Well, that is the economy of the Angels. 00:05:30 Speaker 2: He was the manager last year. 00:05:34 Speaker 1: Well, I forgot that the Angels. See this is how much space the Angels take up on mind lyle. I don't pay close enough attention to them to remember something like that. But it does definitely represent the Angels this season. And and I'll say from our perspective down when we were down on the field doing our bullpen banner things, there were plenty of angels out and about doing their thing pregame, but all like the vets, like the guys we wanted to talk to for bullpen Banner nowhere to be found. 00:06:01 Speaker 2: No, oh no, Trout couldn't see it, didn't see his face out on the field pregame all weekend. Taylor Ward didn't see his face all weekend, Zach Netto didn't see his face all week and Kenlly Jansen didn't see him all weekend. Kyle Hendrix didn't see him all weekend. Look, every team's pregame routine is different, and I know some guy's hitting the cage pregame instead, but I'm especially thinking to myself with the pitchers, you don't even have to get out and throw, like play catch long toss. 00:06:27 Speaker 1: I guess not only Zach Jetto also not out on the field. The only recognizable everyday angel that was out on the field pregame working was jo Adell. 00:06:37 Speaker 2: That was it. And Chris Taylor won of the days. 00:06:40 Speaker 1: Yeah, one of the days, but he didn't even do that much. 00:06:43 Speaker 2: No, he didn't. I gotta say that was a little odd. Maybe they do something a little bit different, but that felt a little odd. As TJ. Joked to me on Saturday. It was about four thirty, and it's like, yeah, Mike Trout's not here, he's just getting off the golf course. 00:07:00 Speaker 1: We've gotten to be around a lot more. We've gotten to be on around a lot of teams this year, especially since we've been doing our bullpen banner stuff this year. We spend lots of time on the Mariner's side when the Mariners are out, but then we'll also go over to the other team and we'll try and talk to their players as well for social media content. We have a pretty good grasp on the Mariner's schedule to this point in terms of like who's out when, et cetera, et cetera. We've been around it one hundred times now. But other teams, you know, we're starting to pick up and we're starting to learn. And the Angels, for a team with as many names and players on it, we're just like looking around. It's like, where is everybody? Like teams that don't do as many interviews, like the Yankees, for example, everyone was out. Even Aaron Judge came out and hitting the cage twice during the week on the field. On the field, yeah, he came out he's just not going to do interviews. But yeah, you out, yeah, but everyone else no, not the not on the Angels. It was bizarre to watch, yeah, Gizar, and then again watching it on the field sort of backed it up for me and the Mariners very well to take advantage of it, as they should because they played the tough teams this year. Now they get a stretch with the Braves, the Cardinals and the Angels in a row, and they proceed to win all but one of those games, which is what they needed to do if they were going to give themselves a chance at this division and bring their magic number down to nine. 00:08:20 Speaker 2: Yeah, and they did it. They won nine in a row. They won every game on the homestand which Goldie is set on the broadcast. That's the first time ever they've gone undefeated on a homestand that's crazy. You're not right, So I think I. 00:08:32 Speaker 1: Did that one I did not see. It was a good Homestand regardless, do you know what else happened today? They've now clinched a winning record in five consecutive seasons for the first time ever. 00:08:48 Speaker 2: It's pretty good. 00:08:50 Speaker 1: That is pretty good, better than before. 00:08:53 Speaker 2: First time ever is quite a hilarious stat but yeah. 00:08:56 Speaker 1: In forty nine years. Yeah well, well usually they just switch off winning and losing. 00:09:07 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, they do. 00:09:09 Speaker 1: You know, I think one of the biggest things that stood out to me from this home stand. We can talk about all the big names here in a second, but I don't want to give this group a shout out based off of what they did during this Homestand this is the group I've been the most hard on all season long, and I've just been not buying it. The Mariner's bullpen. The Mariner's bullpen has had some really rough spots this year, and for good reason. There's some guys I just don't trust in that bullpen. But the Mariners went nine deep during this win streak. All nine of their guys pitched in some form or fashion at least two to three innings, and the Mariners finished this win streak twenty eight to two thirds innings as a bullpen one earned run, a thirty two percent strikeout rate, and a three percent walk rate, a whip of point six as a unit. That is how you win games. You just don't allow runs as a bullpen. That's why I just I wanted this all year instead of just nine games, but I'll take it now. 00:10:05 Speaker 2: And it's really that entire bullpen that deserves the shadow. It's not just Brash and Munno's, It's not just games fire. They're not winning those extra inning games without the likes of Emerson Hancock, Luke Jackson, Jose Castillo who unfortunately got DFAD, but guys like that. It took every guy in that unit to help anchor those wins, and it happened. It wasn't just the big dogs, it was all of them. 00:10:30 Speaker 1: You missed one big name, Carlos Marcus Lyle oh I forgot he gets credit to He threw in the ninth inning of one of those games, and admittedly I was a little nervous to watch it, but he got it done. And these guys aren't pitching two innings a game. They had to win back to back extra inning games this week where the bullpen had to shoulder as much of a load as the starters did and they still didn't allow any runs. That is how the Mariners are going to consistently win games, and that they came up big the moment they needed them the most. When the bullpen gets toast, the starters would the starters would throw as much of the head and then the Mariners had to go to other arms that they probably didn't want to to go win these eight games, and they're able to go do it. Ironically enough, the only person who allowed to run all week was Matt Brash on Saturday. That was it. That was the only run. 00:11:22 Speaker 2: Yeah, you gave up the one home run to the guy who's top ten in baseball and homers and Joe A. Dell, which happens. Yeah, that's it. 00:11:29 Speaker 1: They earned my gold star for this win streak. 00:11:34 Speaker 2: For every good reason. If this is when they're gonna peak and get hot, then great, because then all of a sudden, the rest of the season and how the group as a whole performed the first five months of the year doesn't matter. If they're gonna throw like that in any sense in October, then the Mariners get really scary, because what we've talked about for a while now is, look, they put together an offense that on paper is really good, but they've had their ups in their downs. The rotations had their ups and their downs, and the bullpen can't trust. That was a lot of the narrative, even post trade deadline. Now, all of a sudden, if the bullpen's gonna be much more lockdown, then all of a sudden, when you look at Fangrafts and you see that the Mariners have the fourth best odds to win the World Series right now, this version of the Mariner is the one we just saw over the last few days that checks out. 00:12:20 Speaker 1: And this version of the Mariners is going to get to go sort of prove it on the road this week. Why those odds the way they are, Oh. 00:12:27 Speaker 2: I forgot, they get to go back on the road. 00:12:29 Speaker 1: Yes, oh, yes, thankfully. The Royals have played themselves out of it. The Mariners tried their best two weeks ago when they were on the road in Tampa Bay, in Atlanta, and in Cleveland to swing the door wide open for the Guardians and Rays to get back in this playoff race. The Guardians and the Race have played themselves back out of the playoff chase. Well, actually know the Guardians are still in this race. Technically, the Rays are toast and the Royals are toast. Royals are toast too. This series in Kansas City, the Royals feel like they're playing with a little bit more house money, which I guess you could say is dangerous but also means the Mariners, as a red hot team, are gonna go play a cold team on the road. And I like that. Even if the pitching matchup isn't all of what you want, two of the three starts are gonna be Logan Gilbert and Bryce Miller. You should win at least those two. 00:13:25 Speaker 2: And then you factor in that even if the Royals somehow swept this series and then they'd get the tie breaker, then there's still four out with nine to play. That is an uphill battle, beyond belief to make that kind of ground up that fast. So that's if the Royal sweep, they feel like they're done already. But if the Mariners go in there and even when one game it's buried to the umpteenth degree, and if they go win two of three, forget it. 00:13:54 Speaker 1: And the Mariners what was they gonna say here? The Mariners problems would not be the Royals if they got swept, even though the Royals would have just taken care of them. The problem would be the Astros and the Rangers still regardless, right. 00:14:08 Speaker 2: Yeah, the Rangers enter Monday, and I know the Mariners and Royals are gonna be off tomorrow. But the Royals currently sit six games back, So if they win all three, they wouldn't be four back with nine to play. They'd be three back with nine to play. That's still a lot. And again, I don't think the Mariners, well, I don't want to say it because these are two polar opposite teams at home and on the road. But if the Mariners even win one of these games, they're in pretty good shape. 00:14:34 Speaker 1: Do you want to hear the most Bonker's stat I saw today? After the Mariners get this win at home? Since the All Star Break, the Mariners are twenty three and six. 00:14:46 Speaker 2: That sounds about right, to be honest. 00:14:48 Speaker 1: And they started out of the break with a three and three home stand against the Astros and Brewers. Since that point, after that three and three home stand, they're twenty and three at home. 00:15:00 Speaker 2: Sounds like they should win the West. 00:15:02 Speaker 1: They should win the West. That overall win percentage is about eighty percent at home. If they win the West, you gotta if you're a Mariner, you have to feel so good about playing at home, whether or not you believe in momentum or the confidence of the game, or you try to just individualize everything. Just the fact the Mariners have won so many games at home, and they've hit at home, and they've pitched at home. That's got to be everything you want. It's gotta be. 00:15:33 Speaker 2: Yeah. When I say they should win the West, I'm not even talking about by the odds. I'm saying, go win the West. So you don't even have to worry about playing that first Wildcard series on the road. If you're gonna play in a wildcard series, do it at home. 00:15:47 Speaker 1: So here's where the standing sit. On Sunday night, the Yankees in Red Red Sox were playing on Sunday Night Baseball Tonight, the Mariners were tied with the Yankees. They were tied with the Yankees at the beginning of today. The Red Sox won the game, so no, sorry, they weren't tied with the Yankees. They were tied with the Red Sox. The Red Sox have been scuffling a little bit, so now the Mariners in the Red Sox have the same record. At this point, the Astros are one game behind the Red Sox. The Yankees are a game and a half up on both the Red Sox and the Mariners overall standings wise, that only matters that the Astros repass the Mariners at this point where the Mariners will be back in the playoff chase. The Mariners are three games behind the Tigers right now for a buy That's one thing I think we should circle going into this week. You'll get a judge on it early. Where your expectations should be for the Mariners. I think everyone wants them to go win in Houston. But now that buye is back to within reach, you have two weeks to make up three games on the Tigers. Can you do it? And many games you play or against the Colorado Rockies? Can you find a way to make up three games on the Tigers in two weeks. The Mariners, if they want to do that, for sure, get that buye. Hold them off four and two or five and one on this road trip. You need to win both of the series. I would prefer that. 00:17:23 Speaker 2: So first off, yes, second off, look at the tigers remaining schedule. They get six games against the Guardians, who are gonna be fighting to try and stay in the race, so they're gonna be playing for something. And then they get the Braves at home for three. That would be their easy series. But the Braves are They're still not a pushover. They're not good. This year, but they're not a pushover. And then they end the year with the Red Sox in Boston, who are absolutely gonna be playing for something. The Tigers could absolutely lose a few games aground. 00:17:51 Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm liking that. We will know, I think very early on in the Royal Series, first game, how the vibes are. Yeah, and then we can and say, okay, division, division, wild card or or buy of what the Mariners are playing for. 00:18:07 Speaker 2: You gotta be kidding me. I'm looking up the probables for this Royal Series. So Tuesday, the Mariners get Michael Waka Thursday's TVD. They haven't announced it. The Mariners on Wednesday get Cole Reagans, who wasn't pitched in three and a half months. They get the Royals Ace on Wednesday. 00:18:25 Speaker 1: You gotta be kidding Okay, Ace, but he hasn't pitched in three months and he has an ERA of five and a half. 00:18:31 Speaker 2: Well, probably because he was hurt. 00:18:34 Speaker 1: We're not gonna pretend he's just gonna jump back in and be great. 00:18:38 Speaker 2: He's really good. 00:18:40 Speaker 1: He is really good. He's not been good this year. 00:18:45 Speaker 2: Why can't they say someone else in this series? This is his first start in three and a half months. Why is it against the fucking Mariners. 00:18:51 Speaker 1: I still think the Marritors can win two of three. 00:18:53 Speaker 2: They can, but why does it have to be against Cole Reagans. 00:18:57 Speaker 1: Sometimes the baseball gods just hate you. And that's all on top of the fact that Mariners get to face Frambur and Hunter Brown over the weekend. 00:19:05 Speaker 2: Yes, they are gonna face Bramber and Hunter Brown this weekend. 00:19:10 Speaker 1: It's gonna be tough the Astros this week. We'll get to this storyline here a second, because it's it's massive, But the Astros during the week are not throwing their toughest starters in the world just so they can line them up against the Mariners. And the Mariners have to face the best that the Astros have to offer. But this is what a division race is all about. You gotta beat the best to be the best. That's what the marinerals will do. And they're gonna do the same thing with their starters because they get wound Gilbert. 00:19:34 Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, it's true. I just wish they weren't facing Cole Reagan. You know what, We're gonna come back to this on Wednesday, and the Mariners are somehow gonna light Cole Reagan up for seven runs, but I am still gonna sit here and worry about it. 00:19:47 Speaker 1: I want to get to this Astros Rangers storyline because they play this week. But before we get to that, I need to read an ad. We want to tell you guys about our friends at Slim Goodie Sports Bar. You know when the game's on, the beers cold, and everyone's on the edge of their seat. Yeah, that's the vibe you get at Slim Goody's Sports Bar, located on historic Ballard Avenue here in Seattle. This is where Mariner's Baseball lives. There's twenty three TVs and two patios so you never miss a pitch. Come by and enjoy five dollars ballpark dogs and five dollar Rayniers during every single Mariners game. If you're there for first pitch, you can get in on Tower hour, which is one hundred ounces of rainier for thirty four dollars. I've seen how big those those towers are. It's a lot of liquid in there, so buckle up, big crew solo seat doesn't matter. The energy's here. Come for the game, stay for the vibe, and don't miss the Seattle Sports card Wall. That's a shrine to the city, one legend at a time, Slim Goodie Sports Bar at Seattle's Ballgame HQ. The biggest storyline of this week lyle number one is the Houston Astros Mariner series. This upcoming weekend number two is the series between the Rangers and the Astros during the week I think this series has as much impact on the Mariners playoff a play off picture as any series in Major League Baseball does the rest of the season. Who are we rooting for in this series? 00:21:11 Speaker 2: People can call it controversial, but I'm rooting for the Astros to win. The Mariners control their own destiny against the Astros. They don't against the Rangers. And when you look at these two teams, one of them has to do with winning the division and one of them has to do with getting into the playoffs. The Mariners first and foremost need to make the playoffs, get into the field, you know, the thing They've only done one time since two thousand and one. So for the next three days, yes, I am rooting for the Astros to absolutely bury the Rangers into the dirt. I do not want to think about them anymore. I don't want to hear about rowdy Teles and Dylan Moore and Donovan Solano somehow killing the Mariners. Sorry, somehow, like somehow hampering the Mariners playoff chances anymore. No, I'm done bury the Rangers. Let all Mariners stop thinking about them, and then you can focus on the West after that. 00:22:04 Speaker 1: I'm right there with you. I think the Astros need to sweep this series. The less I need to worry about the teams behind the Mariners, the better it is, because, like you said, making the playoffs is the first priority. 00:22:18 Speaker 2: Seeding. 00:22:19 Speaker 1: Division titles can come second, the American League West Division title. By the way, if the Mariners don't get that two seed, it's literally just a banner because then everyone plays a three game series, whether it be at home or on the road, and I'm just trying to do my best to avoid that three game series. If you win the division, might as well get the second seed. But if you're gonna get the third seed, I would still just focus on making the playoffs. In this case, the Rangers right now as we sit here on Sunday night, are technically three games behind the Mariners, but it's actually four because of the tiebreaker. If the Astros sweep, and let's say the Astros sweep and the Mariners win two of three in Kansas City, that puts the Rangers five games back with nine. 00:23:04 Speaker 2: To play, which is really which is really six. 00:23:09 Speaker 1: No, that would be at Rangers lose three Mariners game. Marors essentially gain one game, Rangers lose three games. I say, so that would be I can't do math. They would be out of it, they'd be done, they'd be toast whatever that number is. That would put the Rangers essentially out of the playoff picture if the Astros sweep them this week. Now, as we mentioned, the Astros are not throwing the best arms in the world against the Rangers. That doesn't make me feel quite as confident. But I will say, having the Astros sweep and you win two to three in Kansas City and having the Astros jump you is not the end of the world, because the Astros at that point, if they were to sweep and you were to win two of three, you'd go from a game up on the Astros to a game behind the Astros, and that leads into the series in Houston, where you have full control over whether or not the Astros are gonna stay ahead of you. That's a great thing about all this Also, you control your destiny against the Astros. 00:24:15 Speaker 2: Also, you'd be tied. If you win two of three and the Astro sweep, you'd be tied. 00:24:19 Speaker 1: For first time with the tiebreaker, right. 00:24:22 Speaker 2: So they'd be in a perfectly fine spot if the Mariner's one two of three and the Astros sweep. But here's the math. If the Astros sweep the Rangers and the Mariners win two of three, the Rangers would be four back technically in the standings with nine to play. They'd be four back with nine to play technically, and it's really five games. They would really be five back with nine to play. Because in that scenario, yeah, it's about done, Like is it mathematically done. No, But to be four back with nine to play and it really being five damn near impossible. So if the Astros sweep, it's just about over. 00:25:00 Speaker 1: What if the Rangers sweep the Astros, Well. 00:25:04 Speaker 2: That wouldn't be fun, would it not be? No? Because then everything gets really close between three teams. 00:25:13 Speaker 1: But then the Astros fall out of the playoff picture. 00:25:19 Speaker 2: I would rather just see the Rangers fall out of it. That. 00:25:22 Speaker 1: It is definitely it's definitely easier for the Rangers to. 00:25:24 Speaker 2: Lose, that team doesn't deserve to get in. 00:25:28 Speaker 1: No, I don't think so either. But if you bury the Astros behind you and the Mariners win the series against the Royals, no, then then the Astros have a chance to get back in and by beating you. So no, I'm actually I'm back with you now. I don't want that. I'm rooting for sweep Astros over Rangers. 00:25:47 Speaker 2: Now because if the Rangers, if the Rangers sweep the Astros and the Mariners win two of three, then sure you would be three games up on the Astros at that point heading into the series. Well, it could very easily be tied at the end of the weekend. Again, if the Astros sweep you, or even at the Astros win two of three, they'd be just two back with a week to go, which is absolutely manageable. So yeah, I guess it'd be like three back because the Marior Well, no, if that happens, the Mariners wouldn't have the tiebreaker, right if they lose two or three of the Astros. 00:26:18 Speaker 1: No, they would not have the tiebreaker. 00:26:20 Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, so it'd be two back. Yeah. So all that being said, Rangers can sweep for all I care or sorry, No Astros can sweep. For all I care, Rangers can get swept. Let the playoff picture get set by the middle of this week. Let the Rangers be done, bury them, and let's forget about them. 00:26:39 Speaker 1: The problem with this is the Rangers are gonna throw Jacklider and de Gram in this series. 00:26:46 Speaker 2: And the Astros are not. They're throwing Jason Alexander, No, not George Cassanza, Jason Alexander, an actual pitcher named Jason Alexander, and then two tvds because they're saving Hunter Brown and Rambervaldez for the MS. 00:27:01 Speaker 1: That does not make me feel as good. But I'm hoping that the Astros offense can piece together enough to sweep the series. Yeah, does feel very well weird rooting for the Houston Astros, but I one hundred percent believe that's the right decision. 00:27:17 Speaker 2: Get into the field first, That's what it's about. Bury the Rangers and let the wild card picture be over. 00:27:22 Speaker 1: With No, I'm with you. Is there any what else do we need to touch on with this series? Should we talk about Cal for a little bit. 00:27:29 Speaker 2: We can talk about Cal, We can talk about Jorge Polanko, But I was gonna say, as we get to this point in the season, I think what everybody's interested to hear about, and we've talked about this now, is are they getting into the playoffs or not. There's not that many more storylines to talk about. It's really just all about are the Mariners getting in or not? And that's what the bulk of these episodes are gonna be about until either the year ends or they get into the playoffs. 00:27:53 Speaker 1: I remember salved throughout this comparison last week. Are you getting any like twenty twenty three playoff race vibes from the this playoff chase? 00:28:04 Speaker 2: Just how there were three teams in the AL West alright in it there were. 00:28:07 Speaker 1: It shaped up differently for the Mariners, though, if you remember twenty three, they the final ten games of the season were all against the Rangers and Astros. The Mariners get to outside of three against the Astros, a worse Astros team, by the way, essentially avoid them for the final two weeks of the season. 00:28:26 Speaker 2: Yeah, and they get very nice. 00:28:28 Speaker 1: Yeah, they get the Rockies instead, thank goodness, instead of that twenty twenty three Rangers team that made me hate my life watching the Mariners play them. 00:28:37 Speaker 2: Yeah, we can do more Rockies deep dive come next week before that series started. Dive. I'm half kidding because there's not a whole lot to say, but god, you just look at this team. The starting pitching is unfathomable. I don't I there's nothing to say. It's well again, we can get into some of the numbers come next about just how awful the Rockies are. But yeah, you just read down all these eras of their starters. Uh, five of the six qualified starters have an ERA that start with six or higher. And then you have Kyle Freeland leading the charges the ace of the staff with a four nine seven and a whip of one four six. 00:29:20 Speaker 1: That is unbelievable. I know they play in cores. That means your ERA instead of three and a half should be four and a half, not six. 00:29:32 Speaker 2: And then again, we can do more of this next week. But last thing, of their qualified starting position players, they have one, two, three, four, Five of their nine qualified starters with negative wars. 00:29:49 Speaker 1: That is not good. Last I checked. 00:29:51 Speaker 2: And if you throw Mickey Moniak in there, who's played one hundred and twenty five games this year, who could also qualify as a starter just based on the amount of games he's played in. He's all so got a negative war, Kyle, Farmers played ninety three games negative war. It is so if you do that, that makes it what seven of eleven? Good lord, the Marriors better sweep that series. 00:30:13 Speaker 1: They better win every game by five runs, like what they just did to the Angels. Based on how they've been playing at home, they should sweep the Rockies. I swear like the Mariners go five hundred this week, and the Rangers and Astros are both within two games of the Mariners in terms of that Rockies series, and the Mariners have won eighty percent of their home games in the second half, and the Rockies still manage to steal a game. 00:30:36 Speaker 2: I'm gonna dude, Mariners are gonna burn down. Marriage men are legit going to burn down if the Mariners lose a single game to the Rockies and this race is still close. 00:30:45 Speaker 1: Everything has been going so well. Can we just keep it that way for two more weeks? Two more weeks? If they're gonna turtle up in the playoffs, so be it. Like this is the Mariners. Our expectations aren't that high. No, don't don't make it. I'm not turtle up in the playoffs. I'm not settling for that. I don't want them to turtle up in the playoffs, but I'd rather them turtle in the playoffs than turtle in the regular season against the Rockies. 00:31:13 Speaker 2: Come on, if the mirror, Oh my god, see this is how pissed we are. Uh, just thinking about this. If the Mariners lose a game to the Rockies, we usually do series reactions on social media. We're reacting to that game. If they lose to the Rockies and this race is still close, yeah, instant reaction. 00:31:32 Speaker 1: Let's hope not. 00:31:33 Speaker 2: They are arguably the worst team of all time. 00:31:37 Speaker 1: They're not gonna set the losses record, but I do believe statistically they are worse than the White Sox were last year offensively and pitching wise. Yeah, offensively in that ballpark. You still, despite playing in Coors Field, have a worse offense than the White Sox last year. Yeah, that's crazy, pretty incredible. Let's give Cal some hours. He sets the ties Mickey Mantles record with his fifty fourth home run here on Sunday, opposite field, left handed swings, something he before this year did not do all that much of has done it a little bit more this year. And now here's the remaining benchmarks if you're unfamiliar. His next home run, fifty five, breaks his Mickey Mantles record of fifty four home runs for the most home runs ever hit by switch hitter. Once he hits fifty six, he would tie Ken Griffy Junior for the most home runs in a season in Mariners history. And when he hits fifty seven, that would break the Mariners record for most home runs in a single season in Mariners history, to cap off what is probably the best offensive season catchers ever had at the plate. 00:32:49 Speaker 2: Amazing. I don't know how much more there is to say at this point other than we're just gonna sit here and marvel at it the way everybody in that clubhouse does, the way everybody watching these games does, the way everybody around baseball has. It's all you can do at this point. This is totally unprecedented for a catcher. Now it's unprecedented for a switch hitter. It's amazing. Again. I tweeted it here on Sunday. I'll say it again. Mickey Mantle is now in the same sentence as some dude named Big Dumper. Imagine telling people back in nineteen sixty one that sentence. Fifty years from now you're gonna be in the same conversation, or sixty years from now you're gonna be in the same conversation as a dude named Big Dumper. 00:33:31 Speaker 1: It's pretty good. 00:33:32 Speaker 2: It's amazing. 00:33:33 Speaker 1: There's a I'm gonna try and find it, but I think I remember this off the top of my head. The difference between Mickey Mantle and Cal Raley is pretty absurd when you compare offensively. This is why we have era adjusted stats, because the eras these two players played in are just, frankly not even close. Do you know how many teams Mickey Mantle played against? Theory hit fifty home runs fifty. 00:33:59 Speaker 2: Four I'll guess ten twelve. 00:34:02 Speaker 1: He played against nine different teams. Yeah, and he faced a grand total of I believe, ninety nine pitchers. Cal's faced two hundred and seventy five different pitchers this year against twenty nine teams. 00:34:17 Speaker 2: What do he thinks harder in terms of era of baseball? Yeah? I wonder. And by the way, all those pitchers Mickey Mantle was facing back in the sixties, We're not throwing ninety nine miles an hour with ridiculous armside movement with every single arm you will face. There were no arms back then that were the fifth sixth guy in a bullpen that are pumping ninety eight ninety nine with ridiculous armside run. 00:34:42 Speaker 1: I am curious, though, if I'm remembering this correctly, what Mickey Mantle would look like in a more i'd say controlled, in tense baseball environment. He is one of baseball's all time greats, one of the best players ever. He spent a lot of time just like fucking around, right if I remember that? 00:35:01 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, we can. We can leave it at that. 00:35:04 Speaker 1: Yeah, he he had some some adventures, to say the least. I'd be wondering what he would do if he, I don't know, trained like Julio or like Cal Right would be interesting, very but that's where they set in the record books. 00:35:22 Speaker 2: Right. 00:35:22 Speaker 1: Let's put it Mickey Mantle. 00:35:24 Speaker 2: Let's put it like this. If Mickey Mannal were to play in today's game, coaches would be a lot more on his ass about work ethic. 00:35:32 Speaker 1: Yeah, and maybe not totally socially acceptable, probably not, no, probably not, But regardless, he did hit a lot of home runs in his day, and Cal Rawley has now tied his record, and I'm hoping he I would say, I hoped he would break it at home, but he's probably not going to break and he'll probably hit a home run here on this road trip and break Mickey Mantle's record. Regardless, it'll be super cool next time you see him at home. I'm thinking he's going to be the switch hitting, switch hitter home run record holder, which is incredible. One other guy I think we should talk about, As you mentioned, we talked about him last week, We're going to talk about him again because he just had an insane weekend. He had an insane day here on Sunday, he had three more doubles. Is Jorge Polanco? And I tweeted this out with his stat line of his twenty twenty five season. I think Jorge Polanco's twenty twenty five season, despite the fact he plays in a lineup with Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodriguez, Randia Rosarana Aohennioswarez, and Josh Naylor, has hid the most complete offensive season of all of those guys. Is that crazy? 00:36:40 Speaker 2: Elaborate on it for people, because there's gonna be people that are scratching their head and saying, how are you saying that over cal Raleigh. 00:36:48 Speaker 1: Here's what I mean. Let's let me read off Horne Polanco's stats for the season and then I'll explain. So, Jorge Polonco right now has an ops over eight hundred two sixty eight three one thirty three WRC plus eight point two percent walk rate, fifteen point four percent strikeout rate, twenty eight doubles, twenty four home runs. Everything I just read off is balance balanced amount of walks, balanced amount of strikeouts, balance between UH doubles and home runs. Balance between hitting from the left side of the plate and the right side of the plate, balance between hitting at home and hitting on the road. He doesn't have a weakness. Do you know what I could say, Cow's weaknesses strikes out too much? Polanco. Where's the weakness in the profile? 00:37:43 Speaker 2: There isn't one. We talked about it Friday. He's hitting from both sides of the plate. He's hitting at home and on the road. He's hit to all fields. In the second half. He hits doubles, he hits bombs, not striking out. Yeah, there's not really one. 00:37:58 Speaker 1: It's from what we watch last year to this year. It's insane and he from everything we talked about on Friday, he just amped it all up. Over the weekend. He had big hit after big hit against good arms from both sides of the plate. And on Sunday he was just toying with the Angels and he might have gotten tired from all the running he had to do at a second base. 00:38:19 Speaker 2: He has been a vital, vital part of this team. They are not where they are without Polo. 00:38:26 Speaker 1: So what do we think is his number is up to now? It's free agent. 00:38:31 Speaker 2: You said it before we started recording. I think that's about right. The Mitch Garver contract two years for twelve million a year about. 00:38:38 Speaker 1: Perhaps with an extra year because he's younger than River was. But that's Horry. Polanco's what people thought Mitch Garver was gonna be when he signed. It just happened a year late. 00:38:50 Speaker 2: M hm. 00:38:52 Speaker 1: And even I think this is what people wanted from Hojoype Polonco. Last year, Mariners make the playoffs if this version of Jorge Polanco played last year. But plan Co last year's not good, but this year he is. And all he's doing all this despite the fact he had a twenty two w RSC plus in May and a seventy w RC plus in June, he managed to shake off two horrendous months and turn himself into his best offensive season, And this weekend even just more confirmed my sentiment of that across the board, strikeouts, walks, extra base power both in the gap and over the wall, average on base slug WRSC plus, it is all there for him. 00:39:34 Speaker 2: Awesome. He's a good dude too, So to see him hitting like this, happy for him. And you know, you know, you know, he went through a lot last year too. I know he didn't play well, but he was also battling a lot, banged up, trying to play through the knee. He was trying to do a lot. He's tough for his for as many injuries as he's had, he is tough, and he played through a lot last year. So now to see him getting some of the benefit and having the success he's having awesome. 00:40:01 Speaker 1: And they played him in the field a lot last year too, which he didn't handle as well. This year hasn't had to play in the field as much, and I think that I do think that's helped him. They got rid of the third base experiment right away, and he's been able to focus on hitting, and it's and it's really worked out. I think the other guy over the weekend that I just I just need to give a round of applause to as he continues to do it as Julio, his swings are so locked in wherever the ball is. He is just scorching the ball all over the place. So that's it is wonderful to see, even if he's not walking. I know he had some awkward moments and extra innings last week. That's fine. He's been unbelievable. 00:40:42 Speaker 2: He got a nice day and a half of rest too. They pulled him in the fifth inning on Sunday day off on Monday, much much deserved and needed rest for a week of games here that's going to be absolutely crucial. So that was nice to see. 00:40:55 Speaker 1: So why don't you for the road trip set me your floor and then set me your ceiling. 00:41:01 Speaker 2: Three and three has to be the floor for all the problems you've had on the road this year, you have got to win one of these series. The way you're playing the season winding down, you've got to just take advantage to some level on this road trip. And while going three and three isn't otherworldly, that means you're gonna win at least one series. That's the floor ceiling. Go five and one sweep the Royals, go two and one against the Astros, or even better scenario, go two and one against the Royals and sweep the Astros three and three ceiling or sorry, three and three floor, five and one ceiling. 00:41:34 Speaker 1: If they go five and one on this road trip, there is a chance they clinch before they get back home. That's cragic number right now is nine. 00:41:41 Speaker 2: That's wild. 00:41:43 Speaker 1: That is pretty crazy. Think about five wins and then four. You need four losses by the Rangers or the Guardians. Whoever is the next team out would need to lose four times this week. So that's where the Astros sweep comes in. The Astros sweeping the Ranger as lower as the Mariner's magic number significantly. And that's also the Tigers take care of business against the Guardians as well. So say both those teams have an extremely bad week, then you could see the Mariners number heading into Houston be clinchable. And then you can clinch on their field like they have clinched on your field and partied in your clubhouse in past years. You can do it to them. 00:42:27 Speaker 2: Imagine that, oh, a part of me selfishly still thinks I'd be fun to see it at home. 00:42:32 Speaker 1: It would be against the Rockies, too, that'd be good. It's a team that's just totally overmatched. 00:42:39 Speaker 2: Nice, easy, free flowing win. 00:42:42 Speaker 1: Would just be relaxing. Like I remember, I remember when they were clinching in twenty two, they were not playing well down the stretch. In fact, lyle where did they go on the road during that stretch. 00:42:52 Speaker 2: Oh, that'd be Kansas City. 00:42:54 Speaker 1: It would be Kansas City. And they were up eleven and two, eleven to two and the sixth inning with Castillo on the bump, and promptly decided to lose that game. So but then they eventually they got home and they scrapped against the Rangers, and then they eventually clinched against the A's on Friday of that week. That Casteal game was on a Sunday. But they like that was not relaxing at all. It was extremely stressful. Looking at all the tiebreakers the Mariners have and how many games they have up on them on everyone else. It is feeling a little bit more relaxing this year. And I don't know what this is like because we haven't seen shit our entire lives. 00:43:34 Speaker 2: I'm not gonna let my guard down yet, because again, they still have to go back out on the road, and this is still a team that's won one road series in the second half and you are going to play the Astros. So I'm not gonna let my guard down yet. But what they just did on this homestand puts them in a pretty good spot. 00:43:51 Speaker 1: Nine is the number nine losses by the next team out plus nine or reminder for the magic number, it needs to be nine losses. Okay, combined number of wins and losses between the Mariners winning and the first team out lose it. 00:44:06 Speaker 2: Yeah, that's some combo of wins and losses that equals nine. That's the easiest way to put it, the simplest way to put it. It can be six Mariners wins three Rangers losses. It could be six Rangers losses and three Mariners wins. It could be five Mariners wins and four Rangers losses. That's how magic numbers work. It's gonna have to equal nine. And with every time that one of those things happens. For example, if on Monday the Rangers lose, it'll go down to eight, and so on and so forth. The Mariners win a game on Tuesday, it goes down to seven, and the Rangers also lose, Tuesday goes down to six, et cetera. 00:44:43 Speaker 1: I am hoping by a week from now we can relax a little bit. That's what I hope. Even if they lose the series to the Astros, then we can relax a little bit. 00:44:56 Speaker 2: That'd be great, But they got to go out and show it on the road. 00:44:59 Speaker 1: They do three and three flour, I'll hold myself to it, and then five and one ceiling. I'm with you. I don't think they go six and Oh. It would be nice, but that just seems unlikely. Here's one thing we forgot to mention before we wrap this up. Do you remember when the Mariners are playing next Sunday? When they're playing, Yeah, Timeline Night Baseball. 00:45:22 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, it's later, isn't it. 00:45:24 Speaker 1: Mariners get primetime. Maybe they clinch in primetime, or maybe they embarrassed themselves in primetime. 00:45:30 Speaker 2: I hope not. 00:45:32 Speaker 1: I hope not too. But the Sunday night baseball games in my memory that the Mariners had played, so they had the Mets one last year was great. They had the Mets one this year, which was not great. You remember the Cubs game in twenty sixteen. That was awful. 00:45:49 Speaker 2: Steve c Shack giving up a walk off grand slam. 00:45:53 Speaker 1: Yeah, that was not That part was not good. And they had a six nothing lead and blew it awful. That was not fun. It was a fun for three innings, but it was not fun after that. Oh and then what's his name? Who's the reliever who hit the home run? 00:46:07 Speaker 2: Do you remember that on Sunday Night baseball? 00:46:09 Speaker 1: Yeah, the Cubs brought him into pitch, put him in left field for an inning. Oh is it Travis Wood? Travis Wood? Yeah, yeah, that epitomized twenty ten's Mariners baseball. 00:46:24 Speaker 2: Let's hope they show a little bit of a different occasion on Sunday. 00:46:26 Speaker 1: That'd be great, that would be that would be very nice. But I will say I'm feeling very good going into this road trip, which is not something I thought I would say a week ago. 00:46:34 Speaker 2: It's crazy, which, oh, by the way, in the midst of all this something we're not even gonna get that much of a chance to talk about with everything else going on. The Savannah Bananas are here this week, which is gonna be safe. 00:46:45 Speaker 1: Yeah, So if you guys are out at that. We will be there on Friday. 00:46:49 Speaker 2: Yeah, we'll be out doing a bunch of stuff, content, et cetera. But as excited as I'm gonna be for it, the problem is all while that's going on, the Mariners are gonna have one of their most important games of the whole year against the Astros also simultaneously happening, so there will be a lot happening. 00:47:09 Speaker 1: We will be multitasking, yeah, we will. 00:47:11 Speaker 2: So I cannot wait for it. It's gonna be a blast. I've been looking forward to it for a year now since it got announced, and we're fired up to go do some content for it. But yes, there will be multiple things going on in our role that we're gonna be checking in on as I'm sure we'll all you and a hell of a lot of people in that ballpark. But it's gonna be really fun. I do feel bad, like I feel like it's gonna get the short end of the stick in terms of our attention, just because I felt like having that event would give us such a chance to recap it and talk about it on a podcast. And I'm sure on Monday we'll talk about it, but we're sure as hell not gonna lead with that next Monday, because the Mariners are gonna wrap up a series against the Astros, which is gonna be crucial, So it's gonna get a little bit of a short end of the stick where we're probably gonna be able to spend a little bit of time on it. But I'm still excited for it this weekend. 00:47:58 Speaker 1: I'm as nice as that it would be to talk about it more. I'm not complaining the reason why we're not because this is all this is all you and I have asked for. 00:48:07 Speaker 2: Literally, No, I'm not complaining. I guess I just wish maybe they'd come in the middle of the summer. For example, our friends over at Section ten when they were at Fenway last year was in the middle of the season, and they spent their first part of their podcast after that for twenty minutes or so just talking about the Savannah Bananas, which we could have done if it was July. We sure as hell can't do it when they're playing the Astros in the most important series of the year. 00:48:32 Speaker 1: So it will be fun regardless. And if you're there, come finus, come say hi, and I'm very I'm fascinated to see it. I'm going to watch a banana ball event for the first time this week as part of my studying. Because I see all the content online. I'm curious to see what the full product looks like. 00:48:50 Speaker 2: Yeah, I can't wait. Their most famous player, I know a little bit. Maybe you guys know the name Jackson Olsen because he's a social media star now, but he was in the Cap League when TJ and I were there, So this will be the first time in six years that I've seen him, and now he's a superstar. He's a big social media star, and he's the most famous guy on the Savannah banas. So it's gonna be cool. 00:49:08 Speaker 1: It is gonna be fun. They're gonna have some sort of celebrity appearance. Let's let's pocket our celebrity guests for Friday's podcast. 00:49:16 Speaker 2: Try to predict who it's gonna be. Yeah, let's do that. 00:49:19 Speaker 1: I think I have a guess, and it's a pretty easy guess. But Felix, we'll hold it. No, No, it's gonna say Marshawn Lynch. I mean, he's perfect, has no idea what's going on? 00:49:33 Speaker 2: You know what? We can create a top three before Friday. Okay, that's fine, because a lot of times they do more than one, and that would be great. Imagine getting Marshawn on the mic, it'd be amazing. That would be really great. 00:49:47 Speaker 1: Nuts, I'll have Marshawn guests twenty ten's Mariners. 00:49:52 Speaker 2: Marshan, can you name ten Mariners ever? 00:49:55 Speaker 1: Yeah, Marshan, have you ever heard of Miguel Olivo? When you just got here to Seattle, he was dominating behind the plate, And by dominating, I mean leading a awful baseball team. 00:50:09 Speaker 2: Yes, no, I can't wait. Anyway, we got some fun baseball to watch this week, and it's really really important baseball, which is all this fan base wants play in important games in September, have a chance to set yourself up for October success, and they're doing that right now. So let's keep it up this week. Let's go on the road, Let's not fold, let's not go one in five. Let's find a way to win some games and do this thing. 00:50:35 Speaker 1: No Lyle screaming this week. 00:50:39 Speaker 2: That would be great because if I'm not screaming, that means the Mariners are not embarrassing themselves on the road, So that'd be great. Yeah, all right, I think that just about wraps up this edition. Of the Marine Layer Podcast. You guys know the drill. If you want to listen to the full form podcast, you can do so wherever you get your audio pods, whether it's Apple, Spotify, or all the other platforms. If you're listening, please make sure to go rate and review and download these episodes. Leave that review at five stars. It really helps us out. If you're watching on YouTube, click the subscribe button. That way you're notified whenever we're posting new content, and it's the best way to support the channel to also drop a like and leave a comment. You can find everything we're doing on our website that's marine layerpod dot com. Between our merch Patreon live shows, you can find that all at our website, and then you can check us out across social media at marine Layer Pod. That's TJ. I'm Lyle. As always, we thank you guys for tuning in. We'll talk to you a