The baseball gods are real, and they’ve cursed the Seattle Mariners

Ready to look ahead? Ready to put the disappointment of Monday night in the past and think about a brighter future for the Mariners?

Yeah, I’m not either. Shove it with that stuff. If you’re a Mariners’ fan, you’ve already heard or read about the critical details in Game 7. You have your opinion on whether manager Dan Wilson screwed up when he opted to have Eduard Bazardo pitch to George Springer in the seventh inning instead of Andres Munoz.

No one’s right, and no one’s wrong. Second-guessing is always seemingly correct in hindsight even when it isn’t. Everyone assumes Munoz would have retired Springer and gone on to get out of the inning, preserving the Mariners’ 3-1 lead.

There’s also a chance he would have given up a home run to Springer too, or that he would have walked Springer and given up a grand slam to Vladimir Guerrero two batters later.

I know, I hear you, none of that is likely with Munoz, who had pitched 13 scoreless innings in the playoffs and was your best option in the bullpen. But I’d respond by saying that Bazardo hadn’t lost a game for the Mariners all season long in 70-some appearances.

Will this go down as the second-most supposedly bone-headed decision in Seattle sports history, surpassed only by Pete Carroll’s decision to pass from the 1-yard line against the Patriots in the Super Bowl?

To most fans, I’m sure that’s the case. But the criticism Carroll took for his decision always blew me away given the circumstances. The Patriots were in their goal-line defense and more susceptible to the surprise of a pass, and if it had worked, Carroll and offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell would have been praised for a genius play call.

Instead, it was considered to be idiotic since Russell Wilson’s pass was picked off - to think you could have simply just handed the ball to Marshawn Lynch…surely he would have scored, right?

Wrong. I looked back at all of Beast Mode’s carries from the 1-yard line that season, and he didn’t score on all of them - in fact, he lost yardage on some.

Sorry to go off on that tangent, but I’m not going to sit here and blame Wilson’s decision for that Game 7 defeat. You know who I’m going to blame? The same guys that Red Sox and Cubs fans blamed for countless years of disappointment - the baseball gods.

Yes, I completely understand if you think these guys are mythical creatures, but I believe they exist. When it comes to the Mariners, the baseball gods are eternally heartless. I thought they would finally be nice Monday night. I pictured them having happy hour beers at some corner bar in the stratosphere before Game 7, telling each other that they should finally give in after 49 years and allow the Mariners to go to their first World Series.

But no, they must have laughed the thought of that off, thinking 49 years of depair was not enough. Even if Bazardo had snuffed out the rally, the baseball gods would have found another way to curse the Mariners, probably in walk-off fashion for the Jays in the ninth.

This morning I woke up hating the baseball gods even more than I did the night before. I hate them for keeping that “here we go again” feeling intact, the one Mariner fans know so well, when something awful always happens to get in the way of something wonderful happening.

Let’s face it, the Mariners are flat-out cursed. They are baseball’s exception to blind squirrels, nut-less for almost half a century and counting.

And as much as you try to tell me this team will be locked and loaded for another deep run next year, particularly if they re-sign Josh Naylor and Jorge Polanco, from my half-glass empty perspective, I will tell you the Mariners are never going to the World Series in your lifetime, my lifetime, anyone’s lifetime. In fact, kids who are born tomorrow or in 2030, yeah, they too will die in 3000 without seeing the Mariners play in a World Series.

If they couldn’t make it to the Fall Classic in a down year for the American League with that rotation, bullpen and lineup, what makes you think it’s ever going to happen?

I recall what the perpetually optimistic Pacific Lutheran football coach Frosty Westering told me once, that even if it’s gloomy outside and everything appears to be bleak, “I’m still gonna make it a good day!”

But I’m guessing if Frosty were still around today, even he’d be swearing at the baseball gods as he went back to bed, knowing dark days will always be in the extended forecast for the Mariners.

Jim Moore has covered Washington’s sports scene from every angle for multiple news outlets. He appears Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 10 a.m. on Jason Puckett’s podcast at PuckSports.com. He writes a Substack blog at jimmoorethego2guy.substack.com. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) @cougsgo.

This story was originally published October 21, 2025 at 10:17 AM with the headline "The baseball gods are real, and they’ve cursed the Seattle Mariners."