The Seattle Mariners Have Unfortunately Seen This Movie Before, But It's Possible to Bounce Back

Brady Farkas

Oct 21, 2025, 14:30

Brady Farkas

Oct 21, 2025, 14:30

Updated at: Oct 21, 2025, 14:30

For those of us old enough remember 2000, there's precedent here. And there's precedent for Dan Wilson too.

TORONTO -- After a crushing loss in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series, there's really two ways that this can go for the Seattle Mariners.

1) There can be in-fighting, where the players who remain on the roster can point the finger at their teammates, their manager, the front office, and then can splinter. We saw that type of attitude in the wake of the Seattle Seahawks losing the Super Bowl to the New England Patriots more than a decade ago. It would be an ugly outcome, and that situation set the Seahawks back for years.

2) The M's can use this loss as the ultimate motivation to get back here again next year.

The latter is certainly what we hope for, and though it's hard to see any good coming from what transpired on Monday night at Rogers Centre, it is possible, and there is precedent for it.

The 2000 ALCS

Frankly, I'm kind of numb to what happened on Monday night, with George Springer hitting the three-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Why? Because I've seen this movie before.

In 2000, the Mariners trailed the New York Yankees three games to two in the ALCS, but they led 4-3 in the bottom of the seventh inning of Game 6 when David Justice provided a go-ahead three-run homer off Arthur Rhodes to help the Yankees win the game and deny the Mariners a chance at Game 7.

2000 ALCS Gm6: Justice's clutch three-run home run 10/17/00: David Justice hits a clutch three-run home run in the bottom of the 7th to give the Yankees a 6-4 lead over the MarinersCheck out http://MLB.com/vi...

What happened next

The Mariners went out in the offseason and added some pieces that could help the roster, namely Bret Boone and Ichiro Suzuki, and with them, they went out and won 116 games in the regular season, setting the American League record for wins. They reached the American League Championship Series again.

No one is expecting the Mariners to do that, but the bottom line is this: Getting over it can be done, and manager Dan Wilson has lived it first-hand. He might be the perfect man to help steward the organization into 2026.

He was asked about the parallels between 2000-01 and 2025-26 in a postgame news conference on Monday:

"I think all of us now have had a taste of how close we can get, how good this can be, so I think, once you get that, that's what you're shooting for again the next year. I know that will continue to be the goal, that was the goal this year, it will continue to be the goal: To get to that final step and this year we were one game short."

For now

All that can really happen is that the Mariners players, coaches, front office and management need to process this. They'll each need to choose how to respond, and soon enough, they'll be on the back fields of Peoria, Ariz. once again. And then we'll really see which direction this will go.

The Seattle Mariners Have Unfortunately Seen This Movie Before, But It's Possible to Bounce Back