Tag: World Series

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2020 Ex-Mariner of the Year… late but worth it

Sorry, teacher, we’re a year late.

The 2020 Ex-Mariner of the Year announcement was all set for February 2021. It was a campaign marked by the deepest dive we’ve ever taken here at Playin’ in the Dirt. We searched MLB postseason rosters… added a Ross Eversoles bracket for guys still gripped by the game somewhere you’ve never heard of… an offshore bonus bracket for ex-M’s in foreign lands… we even put in a special folksong bracket for Ex-Mariners named Abraham, Martín, and Juan. And Robi.

So there we were, a year ago, ready to unleash the big announcement. Seriously. It was ready to go. No, teacher, the dog didn’t eat our homework. It was something way worse.

Kevin Mather, former Mariner CEO, goes off the rails
Absolutely, totally, unequivocally not the Ex-Mariner of the Year. (Bellevue Breakfast Rotary)

It was #thatman. Kevin Mather. Voldemort. He Who Shouldn’t Even Have Been Named Again here on these pages.

Continue reading “2020 Ex-Mariner of the Year… late but worth it”

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Do better, Joe. Way better.

Seemed innocent enough, right? 

It was just Joe Buck and John Smoltz covering the World Series, talking about the amazing Braves and all the adversity they faced on their way to glory. As it happened I was on my way out of the room on an urgent matter when Buck said what he said, so it didn’t quite register as anything more than normal between-pitches blather.

Matter of fact it was this blather right here: season of hardship for the Braves, blah blah here they are poised to win the World Series, blah blah lost this guy to injury, blah blah then Marcel Ozuna suspended for domestic violence, but the hits just kept on coming…

What’s that you said, Joe? (FOX Sports)

Continue reading “Do better, Joe. Way better.”

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Mariner playoff rosters!

Here we go!

Twenty-five guys, a perfect postseason roster, fill the ranks of this year’s playoff teams’ 40-man rosters. Plus a former Mariner ace on IR, another who chose not to play under Rona Risk, and a couple honorable mentionables. Some of these guys are “who?” …and as of this writing, just 24 hours into the postseason, a few have already gone south on Elimination Street. But laugh as we may at them now, they each took their season farther than Jerry’s Boys from Dave Niehaus Avenue. Read ’em and wonder. Click the names for stats and such. Continue reading “Mariner playoff rosters!”

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Your 2019 Ex-Mariner of the Year is…

Pitchers and catchers report to Mariners camp in just eight days. Winter wasn’t so long was it? Over here at Playin’ in the Dirt we spent the offseason deliberating how the hell to come up with a winner. A man fully representative of the perils, glories, and heartbreaks of ex-Marinerdom. A man fit to join our grand pantheon, a man worthy of the title Ex-Mariner of the Year.

A look at our past awardees:
2016: Mike Montgomery
2017: Munenori Kawasaki
2018: Mike Marjama

“When it’s over for me, would I be hanging on with the Ross Eversoles?”
– RIP Jim Bouton

We’ve lost track of how many beloved ex-hometown favorites are out there, still dancing on basepaths somewhere north of the Ross Eversoles. But just a few stood out, for us, in 2019. Continue reading “Your 2019 Ex-Mariner of the Year is…”

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Who will be 2018 Ex-Mariner of the Year?

The petunia withereth, the Mariners choketh. And it’s only the bottom of the 5th®

Take heart, Mariner fans!

The excitement of the 2018 season is just getting started. Now that the Mariners are officially, gracefully, thankfully, mercifully, and without fanfare, eliminated from the postseason, who will be named Playin’ In The Dirt’s 2018 Ex-Mariner of the Year? Continue reading “Who will be 2018 Ex-Mariner of the Year?”

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Christmas Solstice!

It’s Christmas Eve, and all through the land, who’s more excited than a baseball fan?

We’ve heard that before. But hey, it’s the season of hope.

See, it’s been 53 days since the final play of that amazing, heroic World Series that made a legend of Jose Altuve and a romantic icon of Carlos Correa. And it’s just 53 more days until pitchers and catchers report for Spring Training.

We’re halfway there. We’ve passed the lowest, darkest days, and the promise of warmth and light and summer breeze beckons. The game will always be there, waiting to come back and soothe us with the pop of leather and the crack of Louisville Ash and the first shouts of “Play Ball!”

Merry Chistmas to all. And to all, Happy Solstice!

Won’t be long now…