Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Son of a Witch: The Mariners' Magic Number Is Down to 16

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Mariners magic number is down to 16. Colby, hit it. You are Locked-on Mariners. Your daily Seattle Mariners podcast. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Ahoy, sailors, it is Tuesday, September 9th, 2025. This is Tadding, Gazzalus, and Colby Patnaud for the Lockdown Marys Podcast. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. This episode is brought to you by Monarch Money.

Starting point is 00:00:32 Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use the promo code Locked-on MLB. That's LOC, KED, O NMLB, at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. And as always, if you want to hear from me and Colby even more and help support the show, you can check out our Patreon. All you have to do to check that out is click the link in the description of this episode. On today's show, we'll dive into the Mariners 4 to 2 win over the Cardinals last night. And with that win, Seattle's magic number to get into the postseason is now down to 16.

Starting point is 00:01:02 I'll tell you how that number can be lower. to even further in the coming days. And finally, what's with all this Etsy witch business? We'll talk to the person behind the viral sensation, all about it, as well as the great cause it has helped in the process. But let's start here with the Marys four to two victory over the St. Louis Cardinals last night. Quiet night for the Marys bats outside of the sixth inning. They score four in that frame, and that's all they needed. Kind of an ugly game for the Marys, but at this point in the season, don't care how it looks.

Starting point is 00:01:34 just win games and that's exactly what they did last night. A big two-run double off the bat of Josh Naylor, who later steals third to manufacture a run. He scores on a sacrifice fly from Jorge Polanco to give the mayor some much-needed insurance and the bullpen handled it the rest of the way. Matt Brash with a pair of strikeouts last night. Edward Bizarro with a clean inning.

Starting point is 00:01:58 Andreas Munoz walks a guy, but strikes out a couple, has himself a pretty clean inning as well. Brian Wu, after having his long streak of going six plus inning snapped a couple of starts ago. Go six innings in this one gives up two run runs all on one swing from Alec Berlison with a two run bomb. Wu gives up just three hits in total on the night. Nine strikeouts, no walks, just seven hard hit balls.

Starting point is 00:02:24 Colby, what did you make Brian Wu's night? It's pretty good. I mean, it's been a minute since he's gone six. and, you know, done it, made it look this easy, really. The nine strikeouts at zero walks is the big number. And he looked like he should against the lineup the Cardinals threw out there. I mean, that is not a good lineup right now. I know Herrera's having a nice year.

Starting point is 00:02:48 Burleson's having a nice year. But that's just about it. I mean, Contreras is on the, is serving a suspension right now, so they don't have him in the middle. And it's just, it's a light-hitting team. They sold some pieces at the deadline. They just did not put their best lineup out there. it's, you know, there's some defense out there on the field.

Starting point is 00:03:06 There's some contact ability, but this is not a threatening lineup that they rolled out yesterday. And Brian Wu did what he should do with it. Made the one mistake, you know, paid for it, unfortunately. But the nine strikeouts, the no walks, that's exactly what you want to see from Brian Wu. He goes six innings, you know, not quite as efficient as he normally is. He needed about 100 pitches to get through the six. But that's a really nice start from Brian. It's kind of a get right start for him.

Starting point is 00:03:35 And against that lineup at your home ballpark, you need to more or less dominate them. And for the most part, that's what we did. So it's really hard to complain about anything that he did. And, you know, it was just really not a lot to learn from it. It was just four seam, two seam and mix in just enough off speed pitches to, you know, kind of keep guys on their toes. But it's still like 85% fastball. So it's, you know, if it's not broke. don't try to fix it, but there's really not a lot to break down and Brian Wu starts anymore.

Starting point is 00:04:08 He's probably going to go six. He's probably going to walk one or two guys, if not zero, and he's probably going to end up with between seven to nine strikeouts, and that's that. And if he doesn't give up a couple solo home runs, then he's probably going to give you a really good shot to win the ballgame. So Lou is who he is. There's really not a ton to break down at this point.

Starting point is 00:04:31 He's going to throw a lot of fastballs. sometimes he leaves too many of them in the middle of the plate and he'll give up three, four home runs. And you just hope that nobody's on base when he does that. But last night, he was mostly on the corners, worked the top rail very, very well. And it was, again, a very toothless lineup that he was facing last night. But he did what you need to do. So there's really not a ton to say about Brian Wu at this point just because there's no new wrinkles. There's no new pitches.

Starting point is 00:04:59 There's no new attack plan. Nothing. He is who he is. He does what he does. does and it works. So there's really no reason to try and tinker right now. Yeah. So Wu has blown past his career high in innings at 175 and two thirds now on the year.

Starting point is 00:05:13 He was at 121 and a third last year. This is a guy that's still not super far removed from having Tommy John surgery and not pitching a ton in college either. So I was wondering if maybe that's what was going on with his last couple of starts. Maybe he was starting to run out of gas a little bit. but nice to see him you know kind of shred through a lineup that he should

Starting point is 00:05:37 shred through like he said no contraris in this lineup and really outside of that top three you're pretty much cruising in this cardinals lineup like once you get past new bar herrera and burleson no one is OPSing higher than 713 in the lineup that they rolled out last night

Starting point is 00:05:54 and Burleson just returned from the IL as well so you know outside of getting got on that one swing by Burleson. Wu looked really good. Again, no walks, the nine strikeouts. It's pretty much everything you could possibly ask for.

Starting point is 00:06:08 So once again, the Mariners magic number to get into the postseason is down to 16 with the win and a Royals loss last night. We'll talk about how the magic number can continue to lower in the coming days in just a moment. But first, a reminder, this episode of the Locktime Maris podcast is brought to you by game time. Have you ever decided that?

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Starting point is 00:07:27 Download the GameTime app today. Last-minute tickets, lowest price, guarantee. guaranteed. And you're listening to the Lockdown Marriss podcast for instant reactions following every Mariners game. Be sure to tune into the Marriss postcast with Anderson Hearst, Christopher Crawford, available on both the Lockdown Marys YouTube and podcast feeds. So with the Mariners win last night and a Royals lost, 10 to 2 loss to Cleveland

Starting point is 00:07:53 Guardians, the mayor's magic number to get into the postseason is now down to 16. The magic number, of course, being any combination of Mariners, wins and losses by the first team chasing them for that playoff spot. Right now, even though the Rangers are a game and a half back, the Guardians are two and a half back, and the Royals are three back. They're all technically in the same spot with regards to chasing specifically the Mariners because of the tiebreaker the Mariners have on both the Rangers and the Guardians and the tiebreaker between them and the Royals is still undecided and will be decided

Starting point is 00:08:30 when the mayors face the Royals at Kauffman Stadium on the next road trip. But right now, the Rangers and the Guardians, the max number of wins that they can get to on the season is 92. The mayors need 16 more wins to get to that mark. And if all three teams are at 92, then the mayors would win that tiebreaker because they have a better record against both clubs. The Royals, again, because the tiebreaker is undecided, even though their max number of wins that they can get on the year is 91, you know, the mayors would have to get to 92 right now to clear, but that would obviously change if the mayors win that series in Coffman and win the season series against them.

Starting point is 00:09:12 So right now, the magic number is 16, no matter what the situation is with all three of those teams. And the magic number cannot go down because of the out of town scoreboard tonight. It can only go down to 15 tonight with the mayor's win over the Cardinals. Nothing that happens on the out of town scoreboard will lower the the magic number tonight though. So it can't go down to 14 because the Guardians and the Royals are playing one another in a four-game series right now.

Starting point is 00:09:40 So one of those teams is going to win and therefore, you know, the Marys would still have to get to 92 essentially. So it doesn't really matter if the Rangers lose tonight to the Brewers, but hopefully they do because that still would help in another way. So specifically as far as the Guardians Royal series, series goes Colby, who are you rooting for here? What outcome are you rooting for here? Do you want to see, you know, one of these teams win three or, you know, the Guardians sweep here and just knock the Royals pretty much out of the equation? Or do you want to see a split? Like, what's the preferable outcome? I mean, I think it probably depends on what the Mariners do as well. I mean, if the Mariners sweep, then, I think you probably want to, you know, point. as much ground as you can between Kansas City because you've already clinched the tiebreaker over Cleveland. So I think you look at this and you say, you know, the Mariners can win three in a row.

Starting point is 00:10:42 If the Royals would lose three out of four, that would, I think, you know, really give you some buffer zone. So that last series in Kansas City, maybe you don't have to win that series. You just have to avoid being swept. And that'll, you know, push you enough of a buffer. because again, after the Kansas City series, there's only nine games left after that series. So, you know, even if you're, even if you're only, you know, you lose two out of three and you lose the tiebreaker,

Starting point is 00:11:10 well, if you were five games up on them going into that series, and now you're four games up on them with, well, nine to go. They're pretty much out of it anyway. So I think you're rooting for Cleveland right now against the tiebreaker, but it really doesn't matter all that. much so long as you keep winning. So a split is fine. I don't think you want to sweep on either side. I really don't think that's going to benefit you. But again, if you just keep winning, it doesn't really matter. So for now, I guess I'm rooting for Cleveland to take three or four.

Starting point is 00:11:44 But, you know, if you take, if you drop one of these games to the Cardinals, you're probably hoping for a split. But it's hard to say right now. Yeah. I think I would want just the Royals to get completely knocked out. Because again, I already have that advantage established against Cleveland and Texas, whereas I might not, depending on what happens down in Kaufman Stadium here in about a week and a half or in a week, whatever, however long or however far away it is now. Yep. A week.

Starting point is 00:12:18 Yeah. The other good thing here, too, is like the rays are pretty much out now. They're a game under 500. They're 701 and 72. They're four and a half back. also the marries like we talked about after the marries lost that series of the rays like the marries are more than likely going to have the tiebreaker over them because of venture divisional record so they're essentially five and a half back of you so they're done so they're out of the equation here unless they go on an insane run and that also so happens to coincide with the mariners you know completely going into the tank which at that point you have bigger issues than just the raise probably so yeah never say never yeah yeah But I wouldn't, I wouldn't be concerned about the race because you probably, again, you probably have bigger problems than them at that point. So yeah.

Starting point is 00:13:04 So to me, like I would rather just one of the teams fall out here. And if it's the team that there's still like uncertainty around, which is the Royals, then great. So I think I'm rooting for the guardians the next three days to either sweep or win three or four. Three or four is probably better. All right. So over the last couple of days, you probably heard the term. Etsy which we'll get into that in just a moment but first a reminder this episode of the locked on error's podcast is brought to you by monarch money ever check your bank account and wonder where did

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Starting point is 00:14:47 I'm sure a lot of you already know the backstory behind this. But for those of you who don't, Etsy, of course, is a website where you can purchase homemade goods from creators all around the world. But there are some people on there who offer other services like Etsy user spells by Luna, who of course offers, you guessed it, spells. And so one diehard Marriss fan last Friday night after watching the Marys lose game after game all the road, decided enough is enough and paid spells by Luna $15 or $20 to essentially uncursed the Mariners. And since then,

Starting point is 00:15:33 the Mariners are 3 and 0, which includes them scoring 28 runs and two games down in Atlanta. And this thing, as a result, has blown up. And it hasn't just blown up in the Marries community.

Starting point is 00:15:47 It hasn't just blown up in the baseball world. It has become a complete viral sensation. It has broken containment. I have friends, here in Toronto who don't keep up with the Mariners or sports in general who are texting me about this asking me if I'm podcasting about this. It has been crazy.

Starting point is 00:16:14 And so I had to get this Marist fan, Stephen Blackburn, to hop on the show and tell us all about it. So here's our conversation. Well, as we all know, the Mariners were playing some of their worst baseball of the entire year on this past road trip. Vibes were at an all-time low. And that is what ultimately prompted our guests today to call upon the supernatural to try and fix the Mariners. And so far, so good. After paying a witch on Etsy to cast a spell on the Mariners and alleviate their woes and can't believe those words are coming out of my mouth. The M's are 2 and 0 at the time of this recording and hopefully they're 3 and oh by the time you're watching

Starting point is 00:16:59 this and all of this has quickly captured the attention of not just the baseball world but social media in general it has officially broken containment so i welcome the person behind all of this diehard merrins fan stephen blackburn to the show to talk all about how this is taken off and the great cause this is ultimately helped in the process so stephen thanks so much for taking the time and thanks so much for fixing the mirrors what have the last few days been like yeah absolutely it's great to be here um it's been kind of crazy uh you know i mostly did this as a joke like a ha ha what if this actually works um and i'm could not be happier with uh what's happened um you know they've they've really done great and uh i i i almost don't know what to say um

Starting point is 00:17:50 it's been fantastic yeah so it's it's one thing just say, you know, ha, ha, what if I pay an Etsy witch to fix the mirrors? And another to, like, actually go through with it and pay the money to do it. Right. What were you thinking when you clicked confirm order? You think, oh, God, I just wasted 20 bucks? Honestly, I kind of just looked at it and I thought, you know, it's 20 bucks.

Starting point is 00:18:17 It's not the end of the world if it's just a waste. And, you know, I thought, you know, what the hell? It can only do good, I guess. And it's, it's done more than that. You know, I just feel so elated that everything has happened like this. Again, this is, you know, quickly captured the attention of the Mariners, but also the baseball world as a whole. I mean, Sarah Lang's is posting which emojis MLB network does a segment this morning, you know, with a bunch of witch puns. the Mariners photoshopped as witches, which great.

Starting point is 00:18:57 And we're definitely going to be using those as memes for a long time. Absolutely. But also, you know, like I said, it's broken containment. I mean, one of my best friends, Ryan, who knows nothing about sports, let alone the Mariners and lives here, you know, in Toronto where I live, texted me about it today because his girlfriend saw something about it on TikTok. Like, you have truly gone viral. And that's obviously how these things, you know, work when they, do go viral, they just kind of take on a life of their own. But what's that been like seeing

Starting point is 00:19:29 something you did, just kind of on a whim, just as a joke, like whatever, develop into what it has and go beyond even, you know, the target audience it was intended for? It's, it's so surreal. You know, I've never, it feels kind of like a given that no one never expects anything to go viral, but it truly I never would have dreamed of this in my wildest dreams. You know, I just, it's so amazing that something so small has had such a big impact and, you know, that I'm getting the recognition from, you know, MLB as a whole, essentially, and from the Mariners and just everyone. You know, I never, when I clicked that button, I never put a guess that this could have this was the result and uh there's also a shirt that was made uh i forget

Starting point is 00:20:21 what the company was that made the shirt yeah um as well i could not tell you the name off the top my head but uh it's a a design with a witch writing a trident uh and it's just never would i have guessed um yeah i'm just and five dollars at the prosaute logos by the way that's it yeah athlete logos. Five dollars of the proceeds are going to the Trevor project, which, you know, makes me happier than I can even ever imagine. Amazing. That's absolutely amazing. Absolutely. I mean, I mean, I think you, you've started a thing, you know, kind of how like, what was it, the shoe on the head kid or whatever? Yeah. Or that all, like, I don't know. I, I think we might be seeing people dressed up as witches at the ballpark here in the next few days.

Starting point is 00:21:09 Yeah, I actually got a notification that I saw a. right before we started recording that someone said, hey, we'll be at the game on Friday dressed as witches. Are you going to be there? And, you know, I wasn't planning on it. But at this point, I'm going to try and go to as many as I can. Plus, it's spooky season coming up. Exactly. It's just perfect timing.

Starting point is 00:21:27 And I mean, like, I don't want to get too far ahead of myself here. But you did mention in your message to the Etsy witch, like not only could you fix the mirrors, but also, you know, maybe help them get to the World Series. And, you know, game six of the world series, which could be a championship clenching game, is scheduled for Halloween. So I'm just putting that out there. I have no idea about that. That's incredible. So I'm just putting that out there. Just, you know, putting that out into the universe.

Starting point is 00:21:55 We'll see. You know, I don't want to get too out of myself. But, you know. Absolutely. So to me, the, the coolest thing came out of this, though, has been the support for an organization that is, you know, near and dear. to your heart, the Trevor Project, which provides necessary resources and support to the LGBTQ plus community.

Starting point is 00:22:18 There's a person on Twitter, Sarah at Saz underscore the man, who started up an effort for the community to donate to the Trevor Project in your name. I've donated. I've gotten some of my other friends of the Maris content creator space like Ben Reneery and Jage to donate. I've seen a lot of other creators and just a lot of other Maris fans donate as well.

Starting point is 00:22:38 Yeah. I see so many. Yeah, it's possible even marriage GM Justin Hollander donated, which would be really cool if, you know, that was actually him. I sure hope so. Yeah. You know, I hope our listeners consider donating.

Starting point is 00:22:52 The link will be in the description of this episode. And this is something that matters a lot to, you know, Colby and I support the LGBTQ plus community. So, you know, again, we'd love to have our listeners also join in in supporting this. So, you know, seeing this outpouring of support, for that cause because of what you did. What does that mean to you?

Starting point is 00:23:13 It's fantastic. The coolest part about it is that it wasn't even originally my idea. I started with the witch and paying the $15. And another Twitter user from, it's actually an Astros fan. I want to say her name is Max. She challenged me and was like, you could have put this money towards a good cause instead of just wasting it on a witch.

Starting point is 00:23:37 And so they donated. $30. So I decided, you know what the hell all donate $30. And it took off from there. I had several people asked me if they could pay me back for the Etsy witch. And I was like, you know what? It was $15. That's not the end of my world. Why don't you go donate what everyone donate to me to charity? And, you know, let's make the world a better place. For sure, for sure. I love it. I love it. You know, I think it really shows the power of this community. And, you know, I've been fortunate enough to see that. a couple of times when we've done our feed-in-America fundraisers.

Starting point is 00:24:12 And it's really a great community to be a part of. And it's great to see us all, you know, coming together here, especially in support of the boys. Yeah, I never expected this to be what I go viral for or, you know, for anything. But I'm very glad that this is what's happening because of it. Well, Stephen, thank you again for taking the time. Anything you want to say to the people? I guess the biggest thing is just, you know, keep support and keep manifesting for the Mariners.

Starting point is 00:24:37 And, you know, if you can, please donate to the Trevor Project. It would mean a lot to me and to countless kids everywhere. Yeah, again, the link to the donation page will be in the description of this episode, whether you're watching on YouTube or listening on your favorite podcast platform. Stephen, thanks again. Appreciate it. Absolutely. Thank you.

Starting point is 00:24:56 Thank you again to Stephen for joining us again. Link to the donation page for the Trevor Project in the description of this episode, whether you're watching on YouTube or listening on your favorite podcast platform. that's going to do it for our show. Thank you so much for joining us here on the Lockdown Marrars podcast. Colby Pat Node, I'm Tiding Gazzalas. Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at L0 underscore Marriars. You can follow me at Tading Azales and Colby at C-Pat-11.

Starting point is 00:25:21 We're also on Blue Sky. You can follow me at TDG, Colby and MLB Colby on the show at Lockdown Mariners. You can also find us on Instagram at Lockdown Marrars. Have yourself a beautiful baseball day and we'll see you next time. Peace.

Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Son of a Witch: The Mariners' Magic Number Is Down to 16

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