Mariners’ playoff push, love affair with Seattle featured by MLB Network

“If you are part of the team that not only wins its first playoff series in a long time but goes to the first World Series ever in Seattle, that’s immortality.”

Those are the words of Seattle Sports’ own Mike Lefko, featured prominently in a touching video piece released by the MLB Network about the Mariners on Wednesday that puts their playoff push and love affair with the fan base at T-Mobile Park in the spotlight.

The 77-60 Mariners are on a quest to end a playoff drought that dates back to the 2002 season, which happened when current M’s rising superstar Julio Rodríguez was just a year old. And if ever there was a chance to end that drought, this 2022 team has it.

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Seattle will go into its next game on Friday against the defending World Series champion Atlanta Braves with a 77-60 record, which has them sitting in the second of the American League’s three wild card spots as of Wednesday evening.

The “immortality” that Lefko spoke of seems to be on the minds of the Mariners, too, as evidenced by some of the quotes with players and personnel in the feature.

“It has become kind of a rallying cry: Now is our time and end the drought,” manager Scott Servais said.

The push for the playoffs is about more than those on the field in Mariners uniforms, and the M’s themselves know that.

“This city is hungry for playoff baseball, and us as a team, we are also hungry for that,” said relief pitcher Erik Swanson.

Added All-Star first baseman Ty France: “This city deserves it. They’ve been grinding with us for a long time.”

One thing hammered home by the piece is just how much the Mariners and the fans from Seattle have a love affair with each other.

“It would be pretty amazing to be known as one of the guys who came up from that rebuild that got us to the postseason and ended that playoff drought,” said reliever Paul Sewald, who also speaks in the piece about watching clips from previous Mariners playoff teams and now seeing crowds at T-Mobile Park similar to those days. “It would be pretty nice to be Seattle famous. I wouldn’t be sad about that at all.”

You can watch the full video feature, which also includes a behind the scenes look at Rodríguez signing his long-term extension that cements his status as a Mariners cornerstone, in the tweet below.

Young stars on the rise. New faces in the mix. "Los Bomberos" coming out of the 'pen 🔥

An in-depth look at the @Mariners’ push to return to the Postseason. #SeaUsRise pic.twitter.com/NSLa3qyFVQ

— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) September 7, 2022

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