Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Though They Don't Control Their Own Destiny, Mariners Still Have Fairly Clear Path to Postseason

Episode Date: September 29, 2023

Following last night's exhilarating walk-off win, Colby and Ty hop back on the mics to preview Bryan Woo's final start of the regular season, the pitching matchups on the weekend for both the Mariners-Rangers and Astros-Diamondbacks series, and discuss what they would like to see in Seattle's last couple games if things go sideways on Friday night.Follow the show on Twitter: @LO_Mariners | @danegnzlz | @CPat11Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Jase MedicalSave more than $360 by getting these lifesaving antibiotics with Jase Medical plus an additional $20 off by using code LOCKEDON at checkout on jasemedical.com.  eBay MotorsKeep your ride-or-die alive at ebay.com/motors. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONMLB for $20 off your first purchase.FanDuelMake Every Moment More.Make Every Moment More. Right now, NEW customers can bet FIVE DOLLARS and get TWO HUNDRED in BONUS BETS - GUARANTEED. Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started.SleeperDownload the Sleeper app and use promo code LOCKEDON and you'll get up to a $100 match on your first deposit. Terms and conditions apply. See Sleeper’s Terms of Use for details. Currently operational in over 30 states. Check out Sleeper today!FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Brian Wu takes the bump tonight and his final start of the regular season. And while no team has had his number more than the Texas Rangers, could he end the year on a positive note and help keep Seattle alive? Talk about that and more coming up here on the Lockdown Mariners podcast. Colby, hit it. You are Locked on Mariners. Your daily Seattle Mariners podcast. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day.

Oh, Hoy, Sailors. It is Friday, September 29, 2023. This is Tadden Gazzalus and Colby Patnaud for the Lock. on Mariners podcast. Thank you so much for making us your first listen, subscribe, like and turn on alerts if you're watching on YouTube or subscribe and leave a five-star review on your preferred podcast platform if you like what you hear. And if you're part of the crew and rock with us every single day, let us know in the comments below. We'd love to hear from you. And if you want to hear from us even more, please consider signing up for our Patreon.

You can now get a free seven-day trial to check out the show. The link as well as our social accounts is in the description of this episode. On the show today, we'll dive into the pitching matchups for the final three games of the regular season for the Mariners, including tonight's between Nathan Avaldi and Brian Wu. Of course, you can catch all the action on the Mariners hometown broadcast with Sirius XM via the SXM

app. And if things don't go well for the Mariners tonight, we'll tell you what else we'll be looking for this weekend and hoping to see this weekend. But Colby, let's start with Wu, who as I said in the cold open, has

really struggled against this Texas Rangers lineup. But there are no alternatives here. You have to ride with Brian Wu. That is your only option. And with that in mind, what are your hopes? What are your expectations?

What are your dreams for Mr. Wu tonight, Coli? My expectations are that he's going to get knocked around the ballpark a little bit. This has not been a good matchup for him. He doesn't really have a pitch to kind of counter Corey Seeger in particular, but really any of the lefties. And last time he made a start, you know, against Texas, he was in the middle of the plate. And, you know, it's there's also obviously the concerns about his,

his endurance is, like whatever it is. Like he looks like a guy who's running out of gas, which makes a ton of sense because he's, I think, doubled by this point. His career high in inning's pitched. And he's taking the ball every, every fifth or six day pretty much since, what, late May? with the exception of the two-week break they gave him by putting him on the IL.

So, yeah, it's tough to feel really confident about this just because Wu has been so hit or miss down the stretch. And in particular, he's been really bad against Texas. He just doesn't really have the pitch to kind of counter these bats. So my fear is that he gets knocked around the park pretty good. And he doesn't really even give the Mariners a shot to kind of find their footing against Devaldi. who's the guy you can get to right now. He has not been very good since his return from the IL. He was okay in his last outing, but Seattle got to him also.

So, you know, this is a getable matchup. We know how bad the Rangers bullpen can be. So my hope would be that Wu can find a way to go four or five innings, get through the lineup twice, and, you know, keep his team in the ballgame. If he goes four or five and he gives up three or less, I'm feeling pretty good about that outing. from him and then you can turn it over to the pen. Should have Topa tonight.

You should have Brash tonight. You should have Munoz tonight. I think the only guy who might be down is spire, but we'll see. Again, he only threw 20 pitches yesterday. So I imagine that he's pretty fresh himself. So, yeah, I think Wu's job is to keep his team in this game, give the offense a chance to work,

let the offense not feel like they have to, you know, climb a mountain to get back in this game, which, you know, I don't think he's asking too much, but just, again, based off of Wu's command in his last start, based off the new career high innings pitch, based on how previous matchups have gone. And just kind of the hit or miss nature of Brian Wu here in the second half, it's tough to feel real confident about this. So I think you have to have a really quick leash on him. You know, if he loads the bases tonight in the first inning, you've got to get somebody up. And it's, it's annoying and it's frustrating, but it is what it is.

And a little surprise the Mariners haven't called up somebody who can give them some innings. tonight like an Adam Aller or somebody like that. Um, even a Tommy Malone type, but, you know, uh, it is what it is. I think what you want you, what you don't want is you don't want to have to throw Dominic Leon and Trent Thornton in the third, uh, because it's six nothing already. And so we'll see. I mean, at that point, it probably doesn't really matter who goes out. It's, you're, you're probably done.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It also be nice not to see Trent Thornton or Dominic Leone and, you know, uh, uh, three to one game. Yeah, ever, but like in a three to one game, like maybe be up seven to one.

And then you could throw Leon out there with somebody warming up behind them, automatically, regardless. But yeah, then you can do that. But it would, it'd be nice of the offense could really give Wu a cushion early. You know, and it doesn't have to be a, they don't have to score five in the first. They could. I'm not saying don't.

But, you know, if they could just get a run or two early and let Wu kind of navigate his way through the lineup and, And it's, it's serious, man. You get to back to back three ball counts. You kind of have to get somebody up and moving in that pen. Like it's a dead serious thing here. You cannot just wait for Wu to find it.

And that means he's only going to go, you know, one in a third and give up two runs. And you have to go to, you know, whoever to salvage the game that early, you have to do it. But, you know, I hope I'm wrong. I hope Wu, you know, sometimes in these big games, guys find an extra tick on the fastball or the slider sharper than it's ever been. Or he magically has his change up that. day and I mean sometimes it's baseball you know you never know what's going to happen on any given night but it's it's tough to feel confident about Brian Wu uh you know gone five scoreless tonight and yeah giving you a shot like to expect him to do what Logan Gilbert did last night is

unfair frankly so my my sincere hope is that we can go five and give up three uh and I would call that a pretty successful out and give this offense a legitimate chance to win this game um the offense is going to have to step up because they have not been very very good the last two nights, but you never know. Again, it's baseball. Every game is its own adventure. And I just hope Wu, uh, uh, you know, proves me wrong. That would be amazing. And it would give the Mariners a real good shot to win this game. And that's pretty much all you could, you could reasonably hope for. Well, and this, uh, this Rangers bullpen is going to give you opportunities. So if you can keep it relatively close and you can get Avaldi out of this game

fairly early, if you can just keep him to, you know, five, maybe six innings and get at least three to four shots against that ranger's bullpen i feel pretty solid about your chances even for this offense which has been so up and down up and down but yeah you know no shade whatsoever to brian woo it's been a great rookie season for him and he's already blown past our our expectations in terms of workload and all that stuff um but yeah it's hard to feel confident about this um but also again what are the alternatives here there are none so you just kind of have to ride with your guy and hope for the best. So that's what the Mariners are going to do here.

I would think just kind of trying to read between the lines here that Taylor Saucato might be the first guy out of the bullpen, given what Ryan DeVish has said the last little while here, because he was expecting there to be an opener tonight before Wu or maybe they were just going to do a bullpen day, whatever. And it seemed like he's mentioned Taylor Saucato. Right. Within that context a couple times. Also mentioned Isaiah Campbell.

Yeah, but Campbell pitch last night. Sosato would make some sense as an opener a little bit. You got the two lefties early in the lineup so you can attack Seeger and in low. But, you know, again, it's followed by Garcia and, yeah, and Young and Garber. So it's, you know, it's a bit dicey. But yeah, I am surprised, though, that they haven't called up Adam Aller, who's on the 40 man and was starting down in Tacoma. And he's a guy that could at least go two or three innings. means he's you know pitched in the bigs before he's got that experience so i think aller would have

made sense as opposed to somebody like bizardo um who clearly you you don't trust and i i think it feels like some at some point this weekend the mariners are going to have to put bizardo and thornton and leone into a game which probably means you've lost that game but i i just don't think that you can ask brash munoz topa and inspire to cover four innings every single night so Yeah. Where's Jimmy Yakobonis when you need him? Yeah. One thing I would I would point out here is that you might have Bryce Miller available out of the bullpen here in the next, probably not today, but Saturday, Sunday. Yeah.

Very real possibility. They ask him to go one or two innings, you know, to kind of bridge the gap, so to speak if the situation calls for it. So keep an eye out on that. I don't think they're going to use Gilbert. but he might be available on Sunday for an inning or two. It just kind of depends on where the scoreboards at and where your standings are at. So we'll see what happens there.

But yeah, Wu, this is his last start of the year, even if the mirrors make it to the playoffs or the World Series, Wu's probably not getting a start, he'll head to the bullpen. But it'd be great to send him off on a good note and, you know, cap off what has been a really good rookie year. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

And if you can survive this, if you can win tonight, you got Luis Castillo and George Perbie on the bump the next. two days. Yep. Which probably means that if you somehow do get into the into the wild card, Logan Gilbert starting game one of the wild card. Still feeling pretty good about that. Feel pretty good about that.

But obviously there's that really unhinged timeline where you win the division, but we're talking about that. Yeah, we'll talk about that. We'll talk about that in just a moment. But first, a reminder of this episode of the Lockdown, Marriest is brought to you by Sleeper. All right, folks, the MLB playoffs are right

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See Sleeper's terms of use for details currently operational in over 30 states. Check out Sleeper today. And you're listening to the Lockdown Mariners podcast. Thank you again for making us your first list. And again, you can catch the Mariners and the Rangers tonight on the Mariners hometown broadcast with Sirius XM via the SXM app. So we are going to dive into the final two games of the series now that we've talked about tonight's matchup. again we have louis castillo going for the mariners tomorrow we got george kirby going for the mariners on sunday um if you're able to win tonight i mean you make it past montgomery who's arguably the the rangers

best starter you make it pass a valdi who obviously has the ceiling to be the rangers best starter you feel pretty good about yourself if you win the first two games of the series and now you got castillo and kirby going and of course castillo has not been louise castillo lately, but still, if I'm going to go to war with anyone, especially in this rotation, I'm totally fine with going to war with Luis Castillo. So, yeah, how do you feel about Castillo, Colby? And how do you feel about Kirby for the final two starts of this series? Yeah, obviously tonight is the big one.

It's probably the game you have the lowest odds of winning. But, yeah, if you can get past tonight, if you can win tonight, find a way to win tonight, you have, you know, you're the two highest upside guys in your rotation or going back to back and they're going up against what I believe will be either a bullpen day or Martine Perez, which either way, advantage you at the end of it. And then Sunday is kind of a, you know, it's a game seven, or it could be in a way. It could be a game seven. And at that point, you know, anybody's guess, anybody's ball game. And you just kind of go to battle with that. and we've talked about how George has had the ability to kind of rise in these big, big games.

We talked about his start last year in Houston. We talked about his start over Felix weekend. We talk about his last start against Houston. So, you know, he has the ability to kind of step his game up in big moments. So you feel pretty good about that. Like, if you can win tonight, then you're going to have the pitching advantage this weekend in both games, really without any debate, without any question. Even Rangers fans would tell you, yes, like, that that's brutal um you know it's it's tough to look past tonight it really is because yeah

if you win tonight or if you lose tonight and houston wins tonight like it's basically curtains for you um still shot but you know you got to win the last two they have to win the last two so uh it's tough to look past that but if you can get by tonight and even if you if you lose tonight and houston also loses and you go two games left you have to be you have to go two and o and and Houston has to go one-on-one. You feel really good about your two best guys being the guys who are going to go, and you're going to go down swinging.

You're going to go down with your best on the mountain, and that's really all you can hope for. You know, it would be incredible if you win the next two, and Houston loses the next two, and you're in, and then maybe you don't have to start George Kirby on Sunday. Maybe you just, you know, roll with Adam Aller,

or you call up Tommy Malone or whatever, and now all of a sudden the first two games, regardless of if you win the division or the wild card, maybe then it's George Kirby and Logan Gilbert in the wild card round, and you feel really good about that. And then Castillo's going to pitch game three. Like, that'd be amazing, right? When the next two, Houston loses the next two,

that is quite literally perfect. I'm sure that will happen. Oh, absolutely. Yes. There's one thing we know about the Mariners when they get to game 160, 161 and 162, when an outside shot of getting into the playoffs, things go perfect.

every single time. Always goes according to plan. Yep. You always get the scoreboard you want. You always get the scoreboard you want. You always get the pitching matchup you want. Like it works out every time. It's totally not Tyler Anderson and the Red Sox going up against the second worst team in baseball.

Totally. That's never happened before. But yeah. So, so yeah. If you get by tonight, if you went tonight, I feel really good about your, your odds. Again, you still don't control your own. Destiny, unfortunately. You're still going to need a win for at least one win from Arizona.

But I think if you get by tonight, you have a really good shot to win the last two games. We'll see. But I think more than anything, you want to win tonight. If you get to the weekend, the actual weekend, still only a game back, I like your odds. But, you know, if you lose tonight and Houston wins tonight, it's probably over. And it doesn't really matter who's starting. But. Yeah.

And the chance it does. I mean, honestly, like, maybe I'd rather start Gilbert than one of those two guys, but that's not an option. And if it's, you know, I can't start Gilbert, who are the next two guys I want in, you know, must win games. I want Castillo. I want Kirby. And I'll take my chances.

Absolutely. 100%. So yeah, like you said, you don't necessarily control your own destiny here. You're going to need some help. And the most obvious way for you to get help here is for the Diamondbacks to beat the Astros. They began their three game series tonight. It's JP France against Zach Gallen. France has had a good rookie year, but the Mariners have been able to get to him.

A couple of other teams have been able to get to him. It's definitely possible that the Diamondbacks can do some damage against him. And obviously, Zach Allen's been one of the best pitchers, not just in the National League, but in Major League Baseball as a whole. Saturday, it's going to be Verlander against, to be determined. We'll see, I would think that's going to be Merrill Kelly, but see how that turns out. And then Sunday's pitching matchup, as far as I'm aware, between those two teams, is not determined. So we'll see how that all falls.

And I'm sure that's all dependent on what the situation calls for and what that all looks like. But Colby, the Mariners need help from an unlikely source, the Chicago Cubs, right? Yeah. So basically the Cubs are going to start their game about an hour and a half before Arizona and Houston plays about two hours before the Mariners play. If the Cubs lose, Arizona. is in the playoffs. They will have clinched the spot one of the wild card spots and I doubt they care too much about seating, but they will be in. So you're rooting for Chicago to win tonight to put pressure on the diamond backs because what you don't want to do is you don't want

them to look at the scoreboard and see like, oh, it's it's six nothing. The Cubs are, you know, gonna lose like why do I need to put Gallin out there for another two or three innings? So well and also keep in mind here if they clenched they're probably celebrating tonight and they're probably running out a hangover lineup tomorrow afternoon against Justin Verl later and they're probably not too uh worried about starting merrill Kelly who's probably at that point now their game one starter so yeah you want the diamondbacks to be as motivated as possible um and you know sometimes hangover lineups are overrated or you know the effects after like we remember last year the mariners clenched and they had a huge party and

everyone was like well they're going to lose because they're partied so hard, but they came out there. The Mariners weren't facing Justin Verlander that right, right. But still, it's just one of those things like I feel like we see it a lot, right? Like, oh yeah, they're not even going to try anymore. And then they're like, no, they still win, you know, the next series because

guys play loose, they play free. And yeah, you're a little more cautious with guys on, you know, you're pitching and all that stuff, but there's nothing to lose, man. So you go out there, whereas the Diamondbacks would have nothing to lose. The Astros would have everything to lose. Um, so sometimes that, that, that aspect is a little overvalued.

But yeah, tonight in particular, Gallin is your best shot to get the Astros to lose a game that you really need them to. So I think you want Gallant to have his normal workload tonight. And the best way to assure that is to hope that the Cubs win to keep pressure on Arizona. Go Cubs, go. Go, Cubs, go.

Yeah. All right. So if this thing goes sideways, either tonight or tomorrow, whatever, Let's talk about what else we'd like to see here before the end of the season. We'll talk about that in just a moment. But first, a reminder, this episode of the Lockdown Airness podcast is brought to you by DoorDash. Need fresh groceries for the week, but don't have the time to go to the store. Try grocery delivery from DoorDash.

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Limited time offer, terms apply. That's 50% off up to $20, no minimum subtotal, zero delivery fees on your first order when you download the DoorDash app and the app store and enter the promo code Locked-on MLB. Don't forget. That's promo code Locked-on MLB for 50% off your first order with DoorDash. You're listening to the Lockdown Mariners podcast. Thank you again for making us your first list. And again, you can catch the Mariners and the Rangers tonight on the Mariners hometown broadcast with Sirius XM via the SXM app. So again, if things fall apart here for the Mariners either tonight,

tomorrow, whatever. Colby, you're going to be going to be going to be looking for. What are you going to hope to see just as the Mariners wrap up the season, potentially without a whimper? Nothing. Sure. I mean, like, it really doesn't matter. You know, if they're out of it on Sunday,

they might not even start Kirby. Like, why bother? Yeah. So, yeah, it's, it's, I've sat. I've actually haven't sat in the stadium, you know, when the team's been headed into the game eliminated.

I've gone to the last game of the year or game 161 or 162 every time over the last decade that they've had a shot to get in, which is 2014, 2016, and 2021. And they've, they've lost two of them. And the other one,

they didn't get the cooperation they needed on the scoreboard. So yeah, I've never actually gone to a game. game where it's you know that late where it's like it's over um they've always had at least an outside shot of getting in so yeah i'm not i'm not really sure what that's going to be like now i've been to plenty of mariner games where they're they've been bad and they've been out of it so like who cares you just kind of chilling watching a ball game uh just trying to get down to to to a team mobile one last time yeah um but yeah that sunday game i mean Julio might not play why wouldy

there's really not much of a point um but yeah it's always you know kind of bitter sweet to go down there after the seasons ended and you know you're just kind of giving guys a round of applause for a nice effort which sometimes they don't deserve like I'm supposed to cheer for Luis Castillo after what he did on what? No I mean it's whatever but yeah you know I sure the whole the whole objective is you know I don't care if they went 87 or 88 or 89 if they're not getting in the playoffs I those couple extra wins don't mean anything to me right um so yeah you just mostly don't get hurt. Don't do anything stupid.

You know, let's not, you know, get into a brawl or anything and then somebody, you know, breaks their elbow. And now we don't want to Archie Bradley ourselves. Team brawl, at that point, suspension wise? Like, that doesn't matter. I mean, we'll see. But yeah, no, it's definitely a different vibe if you go into Sunday and you're eliminated. I would say that's unlikely, but also, I don't know. And it also could be a different vibe because what if Seattle wins the next two and Houston loses the next two and you're in going into Sunday?

I've been in that situation. I've been, I was at the game after the Mariners clinched. And let me tell you, the vibe was immaculate. It was great. Nobody really cared about the game. I mean, you were watching and you were cheering and all that. But you're like, you know, he hung a curveball.

What are you going to do? Like, it doesn't really matter. So, yeah, that, that vibe is, is incredible. And I hope that that's the vibe that I get because I've also been at games where you've clenched. And my shoulders won't recover if I do that again. So yeah, there's a lot of different variables that could go into this Sunday, what the vibe's going to feel like and all that. So my preference honestly would be that they just win the next two and Houston loses and it's just that chill vibe. And you're just there to kind of like, you know, send off the boys to Minnesota and all that stuff.

But I think more than likely what it's going to be is you need a win. Houston needs to lose or you need to win and you're in. I really hope that's what's happening. But yeah, we'll see if they're out of it. Like, I don't, I don't know. I'm just going to be there. I'm just going to be existing in the ballpark. Yeah.

Because there's just not a ton to, it's tough to be like, you know, the boys deserve our support after they fail to make the playoffs. And it's like, do they? Colby's not that guy. He's definitely not that guy. I'm not the participation trophy guy I'm really not and that's not against anyone

that wants to do that and go support the team and all that stuff that's totally fine you can do that but Colby is not that guy asking Colby to be that guy is a losing game I've coached Little League for like eight years and I never got participation trophies never gave them away like screw you earn them I don't care of your eight

but I just I'm not that guy yeah yeah clearly no I mean like there are certainly individuals that you want to like jp had an incredible season yeah yeah we're gonna do all that on the show sure right yeah they they're even if they're eliminated there will be positive shows uh next week yeah i'll see if i can change that but um oh he he will try he will try there were definitely positives coming out of this year brian woo and brys miller are both positives coming out of this year um you know jp obviously career year cow career year so far hulio career year so far julio career year so far.

Yeah. You know, Kelnick career year so far. You know, and then, you know, it's just there are guys that we love, even though they didn't do their jobs this year.

Yeah, Uh, this guy. And it's, it's a likable team. It really is, you know, there's a lot of good personalities on the squad.

But at the end of the day, I'm not, I'm not patting them on the back because they fell one game short again. Like, we're past that. We're well past that. So going into, this,

this thing's go sideways the next two days. Like, I'm going to the game on Sunday. don't really care what happens. As long as nobody gets hurt, like I don't want to go to a game and Julio not playing it, but if you're eliminated,

like, why? Yeah, yeah, yeah, because like something could happen. Sam Haggard in center field and that's the end of it. Yeah,

because like something could happen that could impact 2024 at that point. Like, I'm not running the risk of that. Look, this, I want to preface this by saying this is not going to happen. I have no faith in this happening. But this is a,

about what we would like to see. So whatever. Oh, it is? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I want Houston to win two of three and you are going for the sweepings. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then we win the division somehow. The one timeline.

I told you. I saw it. I traveled through the multiverse last night. I saw the one timeline. One in 14,600,000. But if things go sideways, I would like to see like Perlonda Baroa get called up for, you know, the final two games. I get to see him pitch.

They did that with Munoz a couple years back. Yeah, Arkansas season just ended, what, last night or the night before. So, yeah, we'd like to see Baroa. Maybe someone like Zach Deloach get an opportunity. And the way that you can make room for these guys is like Bryce Miller gets optioned or, you know, Brian Wu gets optioned or whatever. There's a bunch of ways that you can do that. Just put somebody on the IL. You can just put someone on the IL.

Like it doesn't, it doesn't matter. But yeah, so I would I would like to see those guys maybe get an opportunity for a game or two, especially like. on Sunday if you're not going to play Julio and you're not going to play JP, et cetera. Let's act aloch to start. Let him make his major league debut. Sure. Yeah.

Something entertaining. Just something that makes me want to watch the game. Sure. I mean, maybe you like you call up like writer Ryan and he gets like two innings or whatever. Yeah. Ryder Ryan, baby. They did him so dirty. You know what?

Put Mike Ford in left field. Why not? Who cares? Screw it. You know what? Have someone play every position. Yeah. Yeah.

That'd be entertaining. Sure. Mike Ford catches the first pitch. Yeah. It's a ball. It's way outside. And then you just, okay, go play first base, big guy. Yeah, yeah. And he's kind of working through that way. If you're going to let anybody play all nine positions,

I think it has to be Mike Ford just for the entertainment value. Right. Yeah. Like, I mean, like, realistically, it's Dylan, who would do that. But like, yeah. How is that fun? Sam, maybe. Cabby, you know, I could.

Cabby. Yeah. Yeah. But. Luis Turenz. Yeah. I mean, hey, maybe we get Luis Turenz, get the dub again. on the mound.

You got you still, I don't think they'll make exceptions to the to the new rules though, even in the last game if it doesn't matter. So you got to you got to be up by 10 or losing by 9. I think that's what it is. Yeah. It's like eight after the eighth any or whatever. But yeah. So probably not going to get the win or the save unless things go really badly.

But. Or really well. Yeah. Like I would like to see Luis get a freaking start. Like we really. really have to dh Sam Haggaretty. Like we can't DH Cal for the love of God and give him one half game off down the stretch here. No, we just got to bury him.

By the way, like backup catcher is going to be a huge priority for the Mariners this offseason. It has to be because like. Resigned Tom Murphy. Resigned Tom. I don't know. That's going to work, man. You need somebody who's going to post.

Like you need somebody who's going to be healthy. So like, I mean, we're not getting in the weeds on that and on this show. But like, good Lord. Cal's going to catch 120-ish games again this year. Like, that's too many. Yeah. Also, Gino Swares should not play 162 games again next year. No, that's not a good thing.

Like the Mariners have had more players play like in 145 or more games this year than any team of baseball. That's not a good thing. That's not a good thing. But whatever. We're getting two in the weeds. We're we're having conversations that we'll have plenty. We'll have plenty of time to do or to have. starting maybe next week.

Hopefully not. Hopefully not starting next week, but we'll have plenty of time. Real fast, Ty, before we go, I'm just going to, here are all the scenarios in which the Seattle Mariners guarantee a playoff spot.

Okay. This weekend. Hit me. So if the Astros win all three, if they sweep Arizona, you're out, period. So there's no scenario where they sweep and you still get in.

If the Astros win two, and the Mariners win four, congratulations, you are American League West champions. So the Mariners have already won the first one, so they just have to win three. So the Mariners win the next three, and Houston wins exactly two of the next three.

Congratulations, baby. Your AL West champions, we're hanging a banner, and Monday's show is completely different. It'd be hilarious if we got to a point where we're actually rooting for the Astros to win. Yeah. Because you don't have the tiebreaker on the Rangers.

So even if you win all these games and tie the Rangers, you don't win the AOS unless the Astros win exactly two games. Right. Yeah, there's a scenario where you win all four, the Astros win all three, and you still miss the playoffs. So yeah, yeah. That's a very, that's the narrowest margin to victory, but it's your only chance of the division. That would happen, though. It feels very merely.

It does. That would happen. So the most likely scenario continues to be the Astros, uh, losing. the series. Oh, wait, did I mention, if the Astros win two and you win three, you're also in. So that's kind of the most likely, I guess. If the Astros win one, if you win two of the next three, you're in. And if the Astros win zero, you just need one win.

So that's pretty much the only scenario where you get in. Again, the. the miraculous time stone we'll call it the infinity gauntlet timeline is you win the next three Houston wins two of three

if that happens you're the number two seat in the American league with 89 wins you get the buy and in that scenario I believe actually Texas would be the odd team out which is an ideal

I would prefer the Astros to be the odd team out but hey, you know what, take what I can get. So at the end of the day, at the end of the day, the only thing that matters is you win one more game than the Astros over the next three. That's it. You do that. You're in. Yep.

And then it's just a matter of seating and, and, you know, do you have a shot to actually win the division? That's the only thing that matters. So, but, yeah, there is, there is the infinity gauntlet route that you can go. You know what? At this point, that's what I'm rooting for. Like, why not? let's just you know it's not going to happen but i'm i'm why not cope for three more days here

it's just like the most backwards way you could possibly get into the most like through the backdoor division win in history but yeah yeah you know it's i'll take whatever you can get there six scenarios that you can that you know have you getting into the playoffs uh there might be one more with toronto houston and you all being in the same three way type that happens i think you're in also. So tiebreakers are actually good for Seattle. If you're in a tiebreaker, a three-way tiebreaker, Seattle's getting in. Like, that's basically a scenario. But yeah, that would, that would mean that I think you'd have to win the next three in Toronto would have to get swept. Like, that's the only way that happens. So, yeah, and Houston would have to

win two of three. So I'm pretty sure there's a way for you to win the division and Houston misses. It's if you have the three-way tie in the division and then there's like a four-way tie technically in the wild card, but it's actually a three. way tie because it would come down to Texas, Houston, Toronto. I think Houston loses out on that three way tiebreaker. That's the only way. Yeah. Yeah. So again, that would be the best timeline. Yes. But again, if you're wanting to scoreboard watch two games,

that's it. You're watching Seattle versus Texas. You're watching Houston versus Arizona. And if you win tonight, hypothetically, and Houston loses, you don't even have to watch the out of town scoreboard because of the mayor is when they're next to, they're in. So again, it's tough to feel really great tonight. I think the kind of the ideal,

realistic outcome, I mean, I guess it's realistic that you win and Houston loses. Like, that's totally on the table. Yeah, whatever.

Yeah. At the end of the day, you really want Houston to lose this game because it's the one they're most likely to lose. Yeah. But if you don't win, whatever.

Again, at the end of the day, three games left for both teams. You need to win one more than Houston. End of story. That's how you get in. Paul Seawald has the opportunity. to do the funniest thing ever.

Oh, God. I waiting for you to send that chills GIF. Oh. If Paul Knox Houston out of the playoffs. That will be my greatest chills ever.

Don't encourage him, folks. I will delete every, like the episode that where we just drag Jerry. I will issue a 30 minute apology. I absolutely will not. 7D chess, 70 chess by Jerry.

I absolutely will not. All right. We're well over time. That's going to do it for our show. Thank you so much for joining us here on the Lockdown Mariners podcast. For Colby Patnode, I'm Tadian Gonzalez. Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter at LO underscore Mariners. You can follow me at Dan Gonzalez, the C-A-N-ZL-Z and Colby at C-P-E-E-E-B-C-P-A-T-1.

You can also find all that stuff in the description of this episode. and thank you again for making us your first listen. Again, you can catch the Mariners and the Rangers tonight on the Mariners hometown broadcast with Sirius XM via the SXM app. Have yourself a beautiful baseball day, and we'll see you next time. Peace.