SHANNON DRAYER

Mariners credit ‘special’ working environment for postseason run

Sep 15, 2016, 3:47 AM | Updated: 3:11 pm

With eight straight wins, the M's are only a game and a half out of the second wild-card spot. (AP)...

With eight straight wins, the M's are only a game and a half out of the second wild-card spot. (AP)

(AP)

Last Wednesday, the Mariners were six games out of a wild-card spot with five teams in front of them. One week later, they find themselves a game and a half out, with two teams to jump for a spot in the postseason. Winning eight straight games helped them make up what seemed like an almost insurmountable amount of ground. Winning streaks like this don’t just happen, and Mariners manager Scott Servais deserves a lot of credit.

“This environment is really special right now. It starts with Skip. He has built this culture and this is a lot of fun and there is a lot of belief here,” third baseman Kyle Seager said Wednesday following the Mariners’ 2-1 win over the Angels, which completed just the third road-trip sweep of six or more games in franchise history.

“We are not stressing, and that is a big thing. That’s something that has been pretty refreshing. It’s been fun, it’s been a really clean, enjoyable environment. When you are having fun, you are going to play better, and when you play better, you win.”

The fun aspect of the Mariners’ culture was put into action on the first day of spring training. From the get-to-know-you sessions, to the daily news assignments, to the pool table that Servais told reliever Tony Zych to go buy for the clubhouse, to the recently completed “M’s Olympics,” it was established early that fun would play a big part in the seven months the team would spend together. Perhaps it is paying off in the looseness we are seeing throughout the team.

“There’s a lot on the line, there’s a lot to play for, but there’s no pressure on us,” catcher Chris Iannetta said. “The pressure is on everyone else. We’re making a run. We expect to win and whatever happens, happens. We’re chasing. There’s no pressure.”

It’s a message that the entire team seems to have bought into. Even pitcher Taijuan Walker, who spent the last two weeks facing the daunting task of trying to complete a significant overhaul of his mechanics at the big-league level, has fed off that confidence.

“We’re in the hunt,” Walker said before Wednesday’s game. “We had the six-game winning streak and I didn’t want to be that guy to break up the winning streak. But I think the biggest thing is everyone has a lot of confidence right now. Everyone is picking each other up and I think that really helped a lot (Tuesday). I had a lot of confidence going in yesterday just because of the atmosphere in the clubhouse, in the dugout, and just winning. I think that really helped me a lot.”

For Walker and Seager, there is extra motivation. Both were part of the 2014 team that saw its postseason hopes slashed with mere innings to go in the final game of the regular season.

“It was heartbreaking,” Walker said. “That last game when we saw that the A’s won, the guys who are here now, we don’t want that again.”

Said Seager: “To get into four innings left in the game, that’s tough. That leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. It’s something you have to continue to fight and you understand that every game matters. A game you lose earlier or a game you come back and win, those add up in the end.”

Seager, who has spent his entire career with the Mariners, has taken his cues from the veterans like Iannetta who have made it through September with other teams to go on and play in the postseason. Before the start of this last road trip, the two had a conversation about how to get that extra push going down the stretch.

“You want to know how to start a run?” Iannetta asked. “It starts with an intention. You have got to get everyone believing in something, even if it is a joke. In 2007 with the Rockies, when we made that historic run, we started joking around, saying it’s just one out. The chances were astronomical but it started with that, and as the wins continued to come, those jokes became more serious and the energy started building and we just felt like we couldn’t lose. We just stepped on the field and knew we were going to win. There were a few games when we were down six or seven runs in that stretch and we knew we were going to come back. It’s the same situation here.”

Servais has pointed to the energy in the dugout as another important part of the Mariners’ success. Despite the tough schedule, only one day off in August, the travel, and the stretches where the bullpen was taxed because of injuries, the energy has been a constant throughout the season. And, according to Iannetta, it has been turned up in recent weeks.

“Kyle and I were talking about that,” he said. “Look, let’s get the young guys going. Let’s get everyone chirping. Let’s manufacture the energy and set the intention that we are going to win some games and let’s see what happens. I think it has paid off.”

The Mariners will need to keep it rolling if they want to play in October, and the games get bigger as they return to Safeco Field for a pair of series against major wild-card contenders: the Astros and Blue Jays. Seager says the Mariners are up to the task.

“Everything is important,” he said, acknowledging that, yes, the Mariners have a big home stand in front of them. “You are playing teams that are in the hunt with you and teams that are ahead of you. That’s something you really have to focus in on. We are going to maintain the same attitude, we are going to maintain the same energy and have fun with it.”

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