Mariners-A’s Lineup: Happy Félix Day
Sep 26, 2019, 4:05 PM
Mariners pitcher Félix Hernández will be in front of King's Court on Thursday night. (AP)
(AP)
For the 418th time, Félix Hernández starts for the Seattle Mariners on Thursday night.
It’s likely to be the last time, too.
Drayer: Doesn’t get much better than what Mariners had in King Félix
In a game 15 years in the making, the onetime 18-year-old phenom, the seven-time All-Star, one of only two Cy Young Award winners in team history, and the star player who stayed in Seattle through thick and thin, King Félix will take the mound against the Oakland A’s at 7:10 p.m. on 710 ESPN Seattle.
Coverage starts at 6 p.m. with a pregame show you probably won’t want to miss.
This game is a first, too. This is the first time in those 15 seasons that there is no certainty about Félix’s future once he steps off the mound.
The Mariners’ season will end on Sunday. So will Félix’s storied tenure with the team, as the seven-year, $175 million contract he signed in 2013 ends at the end of the MLB campaign. It’s not known whether a team will give him a chance to pitch next year, but it’s pretty much a given that a Mariners team in the middle of a rebuild definitely won’t be bringing him back in 2020.
So Thursday night is one last chance for Seattle to remember the dominance that was Félix Hernández. One last hope that he can catch lightning in a bottle and, if you squint a bit, he can look like he did that afternoon in 2012 when he threw a perfect game against the Tampa Bay Rays. One more chance for the patrons of the city to say thank you, and for their King to say thank you back.
Here’s what the Mariners will have on the field as King Félix pitches in front of his court on Thursday night.
Mariners (66-92)
Shed Long, 2B
J.P. Crawford, SS
Kyle Lewis, RF
Kyle Seager, 3B
Austin Nola, 1B
Omar Narváez, C
Domingo Santana, DH
Dylan Moore, LF
Mallex Smith, CF
Félix Hernández, RHP
Happy Félix Day.
Shannon Drayer looks at the 2019 Mariners’ progress: Hitters | Pitchers
