Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - What If? 1995... (Part II)

Episode Date: May 8, 2020

Previously, D.C. Lundberg put forth a scenario where the Mariners would have won the division outright during the regular season rather than having to play an extra game against the California Angels to decide the division crown. Today, he looks at how the postseason would have shaped up in this "what if?" scenario, as the show is once again on location somewhere in the Idaho Panhandle. 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.

Welcome to Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Here's your host, D.C. Lundberg. Yes, indeed. Thank you once again, J.M. D.C. Lundberg here with you, the Locked-on Podcast Network's king of the road, back out on the road. Continuing the locked-on party in the panhandle today in Dalton Gardens, Idaho. Yes, Dalton Gardens, ladies and gentlemen. You can find Locked-on Mariners on Google Podcast, Apple Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher Radio or whichever podcasting app that you personally care to use, download rate and subscribe to not only this program,

but every single program here on the Locked-on Podcast Network, or T-L-O-P-N, or Tlopin. You can also ask your smart device to play Lockdown Mariners podcast or any of the other programs here on Tlopin. Follow this program on Twitter at L-O-U-U-N-R-R-S. Follow me on Twitter as well at D.C. underscore Lundberg, which is L-U-N-D-B-E-R-G, if you are scoring at home. Today is part two of what we began yesterday, a what-if scenario involving the 1995 Mariners.

What if they won the division outright instead of having to play that one-game playoff against the California Angels? Yesterday, we reversed a 2-0 Mariners loss on September 27th to a 2-0-Mariners win. And we did that by basically changing the first at-bat of the game from Tony Phillips so the Angels don't score. and then kind of changing the second inning and the sixth inning around just a tad for the Mariners. Maybe a ball sneaks into the outfield here. Maybe somebody boots a ball there. And so we spotted the Mariners two runs because they did have some runners on base at that time. So it's not inconceivable that if just a couple of things had happened differently,

then that would have been a two-nothing win. So now, instead of Randy Johnson pitching the one-game playoff against California to decide the division, which you did in real life, after the regular season had ended, he is now starting game one of the division series against the New York Yankees instead of Chris Basio. In real life, Basio went five and two thirds endings in his start, but you have to figure that the big unit would have gone longer

since he pitched a complete game against California in the playoff to decide the Western Division. In his game three start, he pitched seven. So let's give the unit seven innings in our make-believe game one. He gave up two runs in those seven innings in game three, so we'll say that he gives up the same thing in our make-believe game one, two runs.

The Mariners' offense scored six against David Cohn and John Wetland. The Mariners' bullpen was pretty ineffective, particularly Bobby Ayala, who gave up three runs? Bob Wells gave up one as well, so those four bullpen runs added to the two runs that we have said

that the unit gives up results in an extra inning game. The Mariners were four and six in extra innings in 1995. and remember that game two went 15 innings. And since the Yankees were at home, I have to think this game may have wound up being a loss, but for the sake of argument and for the sake of filling this show. Let's say Randy Johnson spins a gem and shuts the Yankees down, and then Bobby Ayala doesn't pitch.

So the Mariners now have a game one victory, mostly for the sake of this show, lasting longer than three minutes. But in any case, we're going to move on to game two. That would have been Chris Basio's turn versus Andy. Petit. Bazio's Game 1 line was similar to Andy Benes' game 2 line. So we'll seed the Yankees a win here. Tie series going back to Seattle after an off day. In this alternate universe, we've got Andy Benis facing Jack McDowell. Benis gave up three runs in five innings in his real game two start, so we'll simply move that pitching line to our make-believe game three.

Jack McDowell gave up five runs in five and a third, and Steve Howe and Sterling Hitchell. Koch each gave up a run apiece. On the M's side, Bill Risley gave up two. So if you have been following along, this is a 6-5 Mariners victory in game three and a two-nothing series lead. The Mariners were going with a three-man rotation for the most part, but let's say that Tim Belcher starts this game. He had pitched in relief in game two, the 15 inning game.

Randy Johnson is waiting in the wings for a possible game five or game one of the American League Championship Series. The real game 4 starter, Chris Basio, wasn't effective. But let's say Belcher pitches okay. He doesn't need to be brilliant, but we'll look at his 1995 numbers and come up with an average start. An average start for him that year was about 6.4 innings, so we'll say he pitches 6 and the 3rd innings here.

In those 6 and 1 3rd, he would give up about 7 hits, 3 walks, 3 strikeouts, and about 3 earned runs. So that's his fictitious line for our alternate universe game four. That is much better than the actual starter Chris Basio. Plus, this is the game in which Edgar had seven RBI, including his grand salami. So in this what-if scenario, the Mariners have won the division series in four games rather than five, and Randy Johnson gets to pitch game one of the American League championship series against the Cleveland Indians, which we will get to momentarily. But first, the Mariners trivia question. As soon as I find it on these pages. Here we go. Mariner's trivia question. Yesterday, I asked about the tallest players on the 1995 Mariners. Today, the shortest. There were

two players on the roster who were both listed at five foot seven. Who were they? I'm sure one of them is very easily guessed, but while you ponder who the other might be, pondered this message from Bilt Bar. Yesterday, I told you a little bit about Bilt Bar, the newest sponsor of the locked-on podcast network. If you are one who eats protein bars either after a weightlifting regimen or maybe just as a healthy snack, give a built bar a try. They taste better than any protein bar I've tried, and I've tried a few in my day. They're not chalky, they're not gritty, and they don't have that weird protein aftertaste. They're as close to a candy bar as a healthy protein bar can get. They've got a variety of flavors, and I haven't finished the whole sample box yet, but every

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Mariner's trivia question, the two five-foot-seven-inch players on the 1995 Seattle Mariners. I'm sure you guessed Joey Cora. I'm sure you knew that one right off the bat. The other was backup outfielder Warren Newson. More locked-on Mariners party in the panhandle from Dalton Gardens, Idaho, right after a word from postmates. Ladies and gentlemen, if you are the type who starts thinking about what to eat for dinner while you are eating lunch, my goodness, you love Postmates.

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with no minimum purchase for your first seven days when you download the Postmates app. Anything you need, anytime you need it. Postmate it. Now back to Locked-on Mariners and your host, D.C. Lundberg. Joey Martin, also known as J.M. Thank you once again for leading us back into the second half of Locked-on Mariners. Party in the Panhandle continuing today from Dalton Gardens, Idaho, talking about 1995 Mariners. Kind of what would have happened?

If Randy Johnson had been able to start game one of the division series, you know, if the Mariners had won the division outright, rather than having to go to that exciting one game playoff in California, that's the downside. We would lose the everybody scores play, but we have a four-game series in the division series rather than a five-game series. And we've got Randy Johnson pitching game one against the Cleveland Indians in the American League Championship series.

This is where it starts to get a little bit. bizarre, though. Instead of a gutsy performance by Bobby Walcott in game one, we have Randy Johnson. Let's assume he does as well or better than Walcott, so the M's will win game one, which they also did in real life. Now, Bob Walcott

will start game two instead of real life starter Tim Belcher. Even if Walcott pitches as well in the make-believe game two as he did in the real game one, the Mariners probably still lose since Oral Hersheiser was

brilliant. So in our alternate universe, it's still a one-to-one series tie as it was in reality. Game three was started in real life by Randy Johnson, but in our alternate universe, we already used him in game one. So we're going to go with game two starter, Tim Belcher, for our alternate game three. We'll move his pitching line from reality game two to make believe game three. Five and two thirds innings, four runs. Charles Nagy for the Indians was very good in reality game three. So this actually goes from an 11-inning Mariners win to a nine-inning

Mariners' loss. The Indians now lead the series two to one going into game four. Big unit back on the mound. Again, we'll simply shift his pitching line from reality game three to make-believe game four. Eight innings, two runs, only one earned.

Just for giggles, let's only count the earned run. Well, I've got some bad news. The Ms were shut out this day. But looking at the batter by bad, our account of this game on baseball reference, the M's had scoring opportunities. I won't delve into specifics like I did yesterday, talking about the September 27th game, but let's say that they managed to cash in at least two of these runs. So now we have a 2-1 Mariners victory, maybe a 3-1 Mariners victory, and a 2-2 series tie.

In game 5, we've got Andy Bennett starting since he started the real game 4. But he was not good. The Mariners only scored 2.2. runs in the real game five. Again, Oral Hershizer was very good, and the M's were only able to scatter five hits. So going into game six, in our what-if series, the Indians lead the series three to two, just as they did in real life. But in our series, Randy Johnson isn't available to pitch game six. Not that it matters, because the Mariners were shut out and really didn't look very good, only scattering four hits. So no matter who the Ms threw out there, they were going to lose. So the end result,

in this make-belief series is exactly the same as the real one. A 4-2 ALCS lost to the Indians. Worse yet, we are deprived of the double, which occurred in real-life Game 5 of the Division Series, which in our alternate universe was never played. Honestly, guys, ultimately the Indians had a better team. Their offense was spectacular. Maybe not as spectacular as the Mariners,

but it was certainly close, and their pitching was certainly superior. And if by some weird twist of fate, the M's did make the World Series, they would have had to face the Atlanta Braves, who also had a very good offense, though not as powerful as Cleveland's or Seattle. On the other hand, they had three future Hall of Fame starters in their rotation, and their bullpen was also very good. I'm sorry, but as special as this 1995 Mariners team was,

there was no way that they were getting past Atlanta in the World Series, and really no way they were going to beat Cleveland either. Both teams pitching was just too good, and in the postseason, pitching and defense is what wins. Tomorrow I will be joined by John Miller to speak about this what-if scenario and maybe some other smaller what-if scenarios as well from another location in Idaho. Please remember to download, rate, and subscribe to Lockdown Mariners

on Google Podcast, Apple Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher Radio, or whichever podcasting app that you personally care to use. Follow the show on Twitter at L.O. underscore Mariners. Follow me on Twitter as well at D.C. underscore Lundberg. And join us tomorrow as we wrap up the Mariners' What If Series from a city in Idaho yet to be determined. Have a great day, ladies and gentlemen. This is Joey Martin. Join us tomorrow for the next edition of Locked On Mariners, part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Ask your smart device to play Locked On Fantasy Baseball upon the conclusion of this program.