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Following the recent years of professional athletic failure in the northwest, Seattle fans now have at least one winning team among the top three most popular sports: football, basketball and baseball. Last year’s 101-loss season is what fans have come to expect, but the Mariners really proved themselves this season. Hopefully this is a threshold for more success in the future.
In his first year as manager for the Mariners, Don Wakamatsu helped the team create a winner’s mentality. He created a “belief system” among his players that they could beat anyone. He also held single player meetings all year long. There was constant communication with everyone in the clubhouse. This culminated in a 24-game turnaround.
Ken Griffey Jr. came back to play for the Mariners. Despite a very average season, he brought a swag to the team along with a tradition of success.
“Griffey was my favorite player when I was growing up, so bringing him back, to me, was real cool. I got to relive all my favorite Mariners moments and how good he used to be,” said junior Matt Dick.
Pitching phenomenon Felix Hernandez and perennial hit machine Ichiro Suzuki had no trouble finding their stride this season. Hernandez is in contention for the American League Cy Young Award and had the lowest season earn run average of his career. He led the league with 19 wins. Ichiro led the league in hits, was second in batting average, and reached the 2000 hit milestone in September.
Mariners fans will watch this off-season as general manager Jack Zduriencik and Wakamatsu work hard to find the missing pieces. Maybe next year will be the year where we could find ourselves on top of the American League once again.