It looked like the Mariners\u2019 path through the ALCS might be surprisingly easy.<\/p>\n
After outlasting the Detroit Tigers in an epic, 15-inning Game 5 of the ALDS just a couple Fridays ago, the Mariners suddenly had a commanding 2-0 lead in the ALCS against the Blue Jays after stealing a pair of wins at Toronto\u2019s Rogers Centre.<\/p>\n
Two more wins to reach the Fall Classic? When they\u2019re playing like that, piece of cake.<\/p>\n
It seemed like that was the general feeling among fans \u2013 though to be fair it was paired with a side of \u201cCan you believe this?\u201d \u2013 before the Blue Jays served up a dose of October reality, winning back-to-back games in Seattle handily to knot the best-of-seven series up. But then the Mariners came through with one of the most incredible wins in their 49 seasons of baseball, with Cal Raleigh crushing a tying solo home run and Eugenio Su\u00e1rez following four batters later with an instantly iconic go-ahead grand slam in the eighth inning of a Game 5 comeback victory.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
So there were the Mariners in Toronto on Sunday, playing a game with direct World Series implications for themselves for the first time ever. And again, the Blue Jays sent an October reminder, beating the M\u2019s 6-2 to set up the decisive Game 7 on Monday night.<\/p>\n
It has to be this way. Because the Mariners, and Seattle sports teams in general, always do their best when their backs are against the wall. When they have a chip on their shoulder. When they\u2019re fighting against critics, and time, and history.<\/p>\n
This city doesn\u2019t do cocky. But it loves playing the underdog.<\/p>\n
Just like how the Mariners struggled after going up 2-0 in the ALCS, go back to the 1993-94 Seattle SuperSonics (the most painful childhood memory for Seattle sports fans of a certain age). The top seed in the Western Conference and owners of the best record in the NBA, the Sonics went up 2-0 in the first round, and then lost it. The Denver Nuggets became the first No. 8 seed to knock off a No. 1<\/a>, and the Sonics became a laughingstock until they found their way to the NBA Finals a couple years later.<\/p>\n The Seattle Seahawks have their own examples of this. The 2003 team made the playoffs for just the second time since 1988, and after winning a coin toss going into overtime of a wild card playoff game in Green Bay, quarterback Matt Hasselbeck exclaimed<\/a>, \u201cWe want the ball and we\u2019re gonna score.\u201d<\/p>\n And then he threw a season-ending pick-six. Seattle doesn\u2019t do cocky.<\/p>\n But on the flip side, you have the 2013 Seahawks \u2013 who to be fair were pretty cocky, but in a very chip-on-their-shoulder kinda way. They of course won the franchise\u2019s first championship by entering as underdogs against the Denver Broncos and leaving with the most lopsided victory<\/a> by a team that wasn\u2019t favored in Super Bowl history.<\/p>\n I won\u2019t get too much into the following Super Bowl beyond first-and-goal and didn\u2019t give the ball to Marshawn \u2013 let\u2019s just leave it at that.<\/p>\n And then we have the Mariners, who embody this facet of the Seattle sports personality perhaps more than any other team could possible hope to.<\/p>\n No one saw the 1995 Mariners coming. Not when the franchise had two winning seasons out of 18 entering the year. Not when they were 11 1\/2 games back in the AL West in late August. Not when they were down 2-0 in the best-of-five ALDS against the New York Yankees. Not when the threat of being moved clear across the country to Tampa was hanging over the franchise\u2019s head.<\/p>\n That team showed everybody, stunning the Yankees with three straight wins capped off by a double by Edgar Martinez as it just continued<\/a>.<\/p>\n But in 2001, the Mariners looked like they may be the best team that baseball had ever seen, tying the MLB record with 116 wins in the regular season. But they couldn\u2019t live up to the weight of expectations in October, just barely getting past Cleveland in the ALDS and falling in only five games to the Yankees in the ALCS. It was the \u201994 Sonics all over again. Shoulda, woulda, coulda\u2026 and didn\u2019t even get to the final round.<\/p>\n This Mariners team is a lot more like the \u201995 squad. After all, they came back from a 4 1\/2-game deficit in early September, reeling off 16 wins in a 17-game stretch to finally surpass the Houston Astros and win their first AL West title in 24 years. They fought back from losing Game 1 of the ALDS at home. Then they won a Game 5 in 15 innings, and gave the fans the thrill of a lifetime in a second Game 5 in as many Fridays.<\/p>\n And then in Game 6 of the ALCS, a letdown.<\/p>\n It has to be this way. Their backs have to be against the wall. They have to be doubted.<\/p>\n Seattle has to be doubted.<\/p>\n The Mariners are still a win away from the World Series. That win might as well come in Game 7. Might as well come in another stadium, in another country, with 45,000 fans cheering for the other guys.<\/p>\n The Mariners might as well be the underdogs.<\/p>\n The Mariners might as well win it with all of North America expecting the opposite.<\/p>\n All of North America except Seattle.<\/p>\n More on the Seattle Mariners<\/p>\n \u2022 Radio: Hear both M\u2019s ALCS Game 7 and Seahawks on Seattle Sports app<\/a>
\u2022 Mariners-Blue Jays Game 7 pitching matchup not just about starters<\/a>
\u2022 Wrong first: Seattle Mariners to play in Game 7 for first time<\/a>
\u2022 Mariners have had the advantage when playing in Blue Jays\u2019 park<\/a>
\u2022 Despite slump, Seattle Mariners\u2019 Game 5 hero Su\u00e1rez never wavered<\/a><\/p>\n
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