WATCH: Walk-Off HR Sends Mariners to Playoffs for First Time in 21 Years
For the first time in 21 years, the Seattle Mariners are headed to the postseason.
With his team tied in the bottom of the ninth with two outs Friday night, pinch-hitter Cal Raleigh clinched a spot in the American League playoffs for the Mariners, with one swing of the bat.
Raleigh hit a walk-off home run, his 26th homer of the season, off Oakland Athletics pitcher Domingo Acevedo, giving the Mariners a 2-1 victory, their 86th win of the 2022 season.
The Mariners entered Friday with a magic number of one. All they needed to do was win, and they did just that Friday night, ending Major League Baseball's longest active postseason drought.
The Mariners have not made it to the American League playoffs since 2001, when they tied the Major League Baseball record for wins in a single-season with 116.
After losing stars Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez to free agency in back-to-back off-seasons, the Mariners tied a single-season wins record and made it to the American League Championship Series in 2001, led by rookie sensation Ichiro Suzuki.
Batting .350, swiping 56 bases, recording a league-leading 242 hits, and winning an American League batting title, Ichiro became only the second player to win the American League Rookie of the Year and MVP awards in the same season.
21 years later, the Mariners are led by another rookie sensation, 21-year-old Julio Rodriguez.
Rodriguez recently became the fastest rookie to record 25 home runs and 25 stolen bases in a single-season. He was just eight-months-old the last time the Mariners made the playoffs.
The Mariners currently hold the second American League Wild Card spot, 1.5 games back of the Toronto Blue Jays for the top AL Wild Card spot, with just five days remaining in the regular season. The Mariners lead the Tampa Bay Rays by a half-game.
The Mariners would like to climb into the top AL Wild Card spot, as it would mean the difference between playing an entire three-game series on the road and playing all three games at home, to open the postseason, in the first year of Major League Baseball's new playoff format.
With the Mariners snapping their 21-year postseason drought, the Philadelphia Phillies now hold the longest playoff drought in Major League Baseball. The Phillies last made the postseason in 2011. Losers of 10 of their last 14, they currently are clinging onto the third and final National League Wild Card spot by 0.5 games over the Milwaukee Brewers.
Longtime Seattle sports fan Mario Lanza recently visited the Jack Vita Show to discuss the Mariners snapping their 21-year playoff drought, the context of Julio Rodriguez's phenomenal rookie season (and how it measures up to Ken Griffey Jr.'s rookie year in 1989), who he'd like the Mariners to face in the AL Wild Card Series, and much more.
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