The 2022 Wildcard series pitted the long-suffering Toronto Blue Jays against the longer-suffering Seattle Mariners. This was essentially a contest to see who rebuilt better.
The Blue Jays had started a rebuild six years prior, relying on a third-best-in-baseball farm system boasting the likes of Vlad Guerrero Jr, Bo Bichette, and Teoscar Hernandez. It takes time for talent to develop and Toronto had no interest in rushing their young talent. Well, the Toronto Blue Jays front office had no interest in rushing, the city of Toronto was dying for the young guys to be called up and pissed at management for making them wait — most likely because waiting meant enduring things like a 67-95 season.
In 2018 the Jays threw in the towel, signaled by trading the 2015 MVP Josh Donaldson. The next year was that 67-95 season.
2018 was also a frustrating year for Mariners fans. Not during the season, the season was the most celebrating Mariners fans got to do in a long time. Seattle racked up their most wins since 2003– 89 of ‘em.
And management looked the happy fans dead in the eye, and said “Enjoy it!” and then mumbled much more quietly, “While you still can.”
Because immediately after the season they shed all their good players in favor of a rebuild. Seattle had the oldest offense in the league and the worst farm system in the league. It was a nice season, but a rebuild was the only way to provide for the future.
Upsetting at the time, but also kinda why 2022 has seen Julio Rodriguez, Luis Castillo, Robbie Ray, and Cal Raleigh propel the Mariners to their first postseason in 21 years.
That’s right, the Mariners have been suffering for longer than just the 2018-2022 rebuild. Sorry to bury the lede. There’s a lot going on here. You know what, let’s rewind
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