“This is just the start” for “really tough” sailors

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With just three games to go in the 2021 regular season, the Mariners are tied with the Boston Red Sox for second place in the American League wild card. And that ?

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You’ve probably seen the “Believe” team rallying cry, taken from manager Scott Servais’ favorite TV show “Ted Lasso”.

Well, this team, which are 90 on the year win, certainly believes in themselves. And ESPN MLB insider Jeff Passan also believes in these sailors.

Passan joined Mike Salk on 710 ESPN Seattle’s The Mike Salk Show to talk about what he’s seeing from the Mariners and the rest of the wild card contenders.

While Passan believes in the Mariners along with many other baseball watchers, he admitted that it takes more than belief to become a playoff team.

“You can believe in yourself and not have the talent, can you?” ” he said. “But I think once you start to recognize that there is talent to support that idea of ​​belief, there is a fundamental shift in attitude there and you start to buy things that you don’t. didn’t think realistic before. “

The Mariners certainly have the talent that comes with confidence in themselves and each other, but Passan said they also have a key trait that is hard to read in the sport.

“This Mariners team is amazing because they are really tough,” he said. “Tenacity is a hard thing to measure, Mike. We have seen it in all sports. I (dare) someone who’s seen this team say they’re not rock hard and it’s not really, really, really impressive what they do.

So what does Passan think of the other three AL wild card contenders? He shared some quick thoughts on the Red Sox, New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays.

First, let’s start with the Yankees, who hold that first wild card spot.

“I think the Yankees are going to win the first wild card,” Passan said. “I think they’re the best team (of the four), I think they have the advantage, I think it’s theirs to lose at this point.”

Next are the Red Sox, who lost two of three to the Baltimore Orioles and are now tied with the Mariners.

“They should have closed this case so long ago,” Passan said of Boston. “I don’t understand how they’ve pushed the box so far and allowed the Mariners and Blue Jays to come back.

And finally, the Blue Jays, who are one game behind Seattle and Boston.

“The Blue Jays (against the Orioles), they seemingly or theoretically have the easiest team they’re going to play with,” Passan said.

But none of those three teams play as well as the Mariners. Seattle has won 11 of its last 13 baseball games.

“Doesn’t the momentum look like it’s with the Mariners right now?” Said Passan. “Oddly enough, despite these three things I just said, despite these three teams that I passed. I don’t think it’s just a local Seattle thing. I think people around baseball feel like the Mariners have a very, very good chance at this, or at least forcing the chaos scenario. “

The chaos scenario is, well, chaotic.

If the Mariners, Red Sox and Blue Jays all end up with the same record, things get very interesting.

The Red Sox would have the first choice to be Team A, B or C, due to the tiebreakers, followed by the Mariners and then the Blue Jays.

Team A would host Team B in a match for the right to face Team C, which would have a “bye” before hitting the road to face the winner. The winner of this match would then face the Yankees in New York in the real wild card game.

Passan explained why this puts the Red Sox in a very interesting position.

“If the Red Sox pick Team C, that means the Mariners will host Game 163 with Toronto in Seattle at T-Mobile,” he said. “And if the Mariners win this game, then Boston will have to travel across the country… to play the next day. So do the Red Sox choose (instead) to be part of Team A and instead try to win two home games? There are a lot of different permutations to this. The right thing to do is to take only one match on the road as it is much easier to win one match than to win two and it is much better and it makes a lot more sense not to tax your pen before the joker game. But this is one of those things where if you feel like this trip is going to be so problematic, maybe (the Red Sox are doing it) choosing to be part of Team A.

(For a full analysis of the potential chaos, check out this story.)

Passan admitted he was a bit disappointed with the appearance in the Mariners’ three-game sweep against the Oakland Athletics, but when he heard from Salk that the team expected over 30,000 for the three The team’s games against the Los Angeles Angels, he perked up.

“It should be. Because it’s fun. That’s what sport is about,” Passan said. “It’s about seeing guys like Jarred Kelenic turn into something when he seemed for a some time he was going to be a bust. He isn’t. Julio Rodríguez isn’t, Logan Gilbert isn’t, George Kirby isn’t. The fun part, guys, is that this is just the beginning, there is much, much more to come.

Listen to the full interview at this link or in the player below.

Believe it – Mariners just tied for AL’s second wild card



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