Game 162 Matters

I have five minutes to write a post. Maybe ten. Not much time, but I've got to write something.

So many things I wish I had the time to talk about with the M's game last night. I've got a church service to get to though, doubly important because my grandfather is getting recognized at this one. I still have my priorities outside of baseball, and I won't apologize for those.

I'm dressed nicely for church - a collared shirt, slacks, dress socks and dress shoes. My Night Court shirt is on underneath though.

Baseball, I think, plays out like garage sales most of the time. You go, rummage around, generally enjoy the hunt, but the vast majority of items are neither memorable nor disgusting. They're just there. But, every now and then, you find that one thing that you know you can't find anywhere else, the diamond in the rough, the relics that convince you the next garage sale is worth rummaging through too. Those matinee games where King Felix takes the mound and fires a perfect game - I know those are possible any given day, but highly unlikely. Still, I keep rummaging. I'll always rummage. Those unpredictable gems are too attractive to me.

However, the postseason is different, and make no mistake - the Mariners are playing in the postseason right now. I get that it's technically the regular season, and technically a one-game playoff with the A's would count as a regular season game. The regular season is the garage sale though. In the postseason there's no doubt how important or special the games are, and that makes each moment so much more precious.

So when the Mariners deliver a gem of a game that would stand out on any usual, mundane day, as they did last night, but the stakes are so high - that's special. They've made for a potentially legendary Felix day today.

Before I get too carried away, I get that the A's must lose today. They might night. Arguably, they shouldn't. That would mean they dropped 3 of 4 against the Rangers, the worst team in the American League. The Mariners also have to sweep the Angels, the best team in the American League. Game 163 is improbable.

However, the real victory is that game 163 is still a hypothetical. We've made it to game 162 and tomorrow might still exist. The Mariners and A's are the only teams in all of baseball that don't know what they'll be doing on Monday. The new wild card set-up has made these tighter races more likely, but they still strike different cities in different years.

It's our turn right now. I was thinking in the shower this morning about the last time game 162 meant so much. If we count game 144 in 1995 (they only played 144 that year thanks to the strike) that one was huge. I faintly remember the last game of 2000 mattering too.

That's it. That's the whole list. Today is a very special day. This is the kind of game that could live on through careers and stick in a lifetime of memory banks.

Happy Felix day.