September 3, 2026 • 19 mins
Former Mariners All Star Bret Boone joins Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain to discuss the mentality of his 2001 team that won 116 games, the playoff hopes for the 2026 M’s, the way Dan Wilson manages this team including the lack of discipline for players and the culture he has created with the club, and why Wilson cannot start disciplining now.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Coming to you live from our Elliott Avenue studios of
Sports Radio 93.3 KJR FM, it's time for our weekly
conversation with former Mariners All-Star Brett Boone. Brought to you
by Venue Kings. Visit VenueKings.com for all your ticket needs.
Now with Booney, here's Softie and Dick.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
All right, here we go. Big thanks to our friends
at VenueKings.com.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Whatever you got your eyes on, Seahawk tickets, Mariner tickets,
Husky tickets, Monday night football against the Bears, the Cowboys,
season opener against the Patriots next Wednesday. Jump on the
web and use code SOFTY at checkout for a discount
right now at VenueKings.com. Here he is, our friend, Brett Boone,
with us right now talking some baseball.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
How are you, pal?
Speaker 4 (00:46):
Afternoon, guys. I'm doing well.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
You know, Dick and I were talking about 25 years ago,
you guys on September 3rd were 60 games over.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
500. 60 games over. 500. Can you go back.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
And just give us... That's a good team right there.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Give us a little anecdote, story, whatever. Put your old
storytelling hat on about.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
What that was like. Uh-oh. It must be going rough.
What was that like?
Speaker 2 (01:14):
No, no, no. We're not there yet.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
We're not talking for Lou Piniella stories, but if you
want to make a Lou Piniella, that's fine. We might
be a week away from Lou Piniella stories.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
We could be. We could be.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
So give us a take on what that was like
to wake up 60 games over 500 25 years ago today.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
I think it got to a point. We're at this
point in the season where we weren't even counting. We
were just like, we're so far over 500. Everybody is
so in the rear view mirror. I think the Oakland Dodgers,
A's that year won 102 or 104 games. They missed
it by 12 games when you won 100. So at
(01:50):
that stage of the season, it was more the hoopla
and all the things we were paying attention to started
in the first couple months because we won 20 games
back-to-back months. And that's, you know, infamously when Johnny Olerud
came over to me at a during a pitching change.
Cause Lou had had that conversation with us in spring
(02:11):
training that you can't just flip a switch. And he
was being Lou and he was yelling at us and
we were all laughing because we were a veteran team
and he was complaining about spring training. We're playing that good.
And that's when, when Johnny Ola route comes to me
and it's the end of May and we just won
20 games, two months in a row. And Johnny, he
(02:31):
comes up with some great ones. I said, Johnny, what
do you got for me today? And he just turned
to me and he said, you know, I guess we
could tell Lou, consider that switch flip. And it just,
it went from there. And I mean, we just, we
just had something about us, an aura. It was the
refuse to lose year and two outs. So what? And
(02:52):
we really felt like that. It was, it was something
that I've never gone through before. It was a, it
was something that was, you know, I don't want to
get woo woo, but it was magical. It was something that,
and we all knew that we all knew. This is
a once-in-a-lifetime thing. You just don't have seasons that go
this smoothly, this easy. I don't think one of our
(03:13):
starters missed a start in the starting rotation. Everybody was
pretty much healthy for the entire year. Everybody was having
career years at the same time, and we would just
win series after series, and we didn't think about it.
It was just, okay, we're going to win, obviously. It
was a matter of, are we going to beat you
in the series, or are we just going to beat you,
(03:33):
or are we going to sweep you? And we didn't
get into the 60 games over 500. We weren't sitting
around looking, you know, talking about what we were doing.
We were just kind of head down, lunch pail, going
to work. I think it was a relief when we
hit the 116. It was like, oh, finally it's over.
And now we had to start the playoffs. So great
(03:55):
memories ended badly. Shamefully, it didn't end the way we
wanted it to do. But it was definitely one of
those seasons where you just can't wait to get ballpark
every day and very rarely at that level do you
have those years where you just can't wait to get
to the ballpark and everybody was similar it's like let's
get to the yard so we can beat someone's butt
(04:17):
and uh never have i been through a season like
that you have peaks and valleys you have peaks where
wow it's really fun right now we just rattled off
10 of 12 but never from from wire to wire.
Speaker 5 (04:28):
Is that what motivated you in the last couple weeks
the 116 because other than that you weren't.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
I think so anything in september Yeah, I think so.
You know, Lou is coming under a lot of heat
for not resting guys. He was kind of it was
a catch 22 for our skipper because he wanted to
rest guys, get them ready for the postseason. The lead
was so big that it didn't matter if we won
or lost the game. But I think he felt that
pressure like, well, we're here. We might as well break
(04:55):
the record if we can. So he kind of we
kept the pedal to the metal the whole season. There's
no excuse. I mean, people speculate, say, oh, should Lou
have rested more people? No. What happened, happened. And it
didn't matter. It wasn't for lack of rest or anything
like that or chasing the record. It was kind of
(05:16):
exciting because it was the first year of Ichiro. So
he had his whole entourage from Japan. You had all
the Japanese media, which we weren't used to having that
many extra media in the clubhouse. Then once we got
on this record pace, we had that post-season type media,
every game, everywhere we went, because it was a national story.
And the questions started to come around the All-Star break.
(05:39):
They started questioning, are you going to win 116? And
we had to answer those questions for two months. And
then finally we did it. And it was like, wow.
It was a big relief. I remember that night, just
finally it's over. They're going to quit asking us about
that question, and we're going to move on. But we
went to the playoffs, and we got beat by New York.
Still to this day, I don't know how. Because during
(06:00):
the season, we handled New York very easily. And going
into that series, we didn't even think twice whether we
were going to win or not. Usually in the postseason,
you're kind of walking on eggshells and, all right, we've
got to play well and we've got to get this
series going. But that particular year, we're just going to
roll into New York and take care of business like
we always have and kind of got blindsided and lost.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
Yeah, well, yeah, you know seven-game series, anything is possible. Well,
let's talk about this team, and Astros won today, so
you're five and a half games out. We were just
doing some math here, so the Astros have 21 games
left to go, and Dick and I just for giggles
just said, okay, the most likely scenario, let's just say 11-10.
Maybe 10 and 11, but we'll just say 500. They
go 11 and 10. The M's have to go 17
(06:41):
and 5 in their last 22 games to catch them
and tie them and win the American League West. That's
125 win pace, by the way, guys, over the final
22 games. I mean, honestly, for lack of a better question,
you think they can do that?
Speaker 4 (06:59):
Well, realistically... writing on the wall? No, I'm not going
to sit here and be a super fan and say,
of course they can do it. Yeah, anything's possible. What
matters is what those players in that clubhouse think. That's
all that matters, is do they think they can? And
I would assume they do think they can because of
the personnel they have there. The problem is Seattle, we
(07:20):
were talking about a few weeks ago, they were going
through a real rough streak where they were having to
play some good teams back to back. Well, we've hit
that the point in the season where it's flipped and
they have the easiest schedule. So that's the positive thing
on the way out. You know, start tonight with the A's.
You can't take anybody for granted. That being said, you
do have the easiest schedule. Texas, I think, in that
(07:41):
division have kind of the middle schedule. And then Houston's
got the toughest down the stretch. So if you're going
to look for positives, the Astros have the toughest run
through the month of September. Seattle has the easiest if
you're looking for positive things to look for. But they're still,
you know, they're teams now that– The athletics, they're looking
to knock somebody off. They have nothing to play for
this season. You've got to find something to play for.
(08:03):
So those teams that have no chance at the playoffs,
they've got to find a reason to play. And nothing
better than just crushing somebody's dream right there on the
cusp of trying to get a playoff bid.
Speaker 5 (08:15):
Well, you used the term flip a switch when you
were talking about 2021. I mean, that seems like Dan
Wilson's M.O. I mean, he flipped a switch in 2024
when he got here in September. They flipped the switch
and went 17-1 last year down the stretch. Can he
flip a switch? It looked like they flipped the switch
in Boston. They had a good series in Boston. So,
I mean, is it possible for him to just be
(08:37):
that type of manager that can flip the switch when
the season gets late?
Speaker 4 (08:43):
Once again, I'd love to sit there and say absolutely.
But I don't know anybody that can just flip the
switch when they need to. That doesn't have a bat
or a glove in their hand. That can affect you
on the field.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
You're right.
Speaker 4 (08:56):
They beat a good Red Sox team. They beat them
two out of three. Coming off a sweep from Toronto,
you can't get swept by Toronto. I know Toronto's playing
better now. I think they've won five out of six,
but you can't at this stage of the season with
everything on the line, you just can't lose three straight.
You followed up with, no, you went two out of
three and now it's a headache. At this stage, you
(09:17):
just got to go into series and you can't think
about sweeps. At the end, you got to think, okay,
now we got to sweep if the numbers work out
that way. But right now, I think you take small
samples and just say, no, we got to win tonight. But,
but if you want to go a little longer term,
we've got to win every series from here on out.
They've got Texas coming up after, after the A's. Okay.
(09:39):
For years and years have, have they've had Texas's number. Well,
this year they've, they've talked about flipping the switch or
flipping the script, uh, Texas has kind of flipped it
on Seattle this year and has had their number. And
last year, coming out of there, I think I told
this on the program a few weeks ago. Man, I
left Seattle last year when we were in a playoff hunt.
(09:59):
we're in that wild card hunt and I left Seattle
and and we played them twice and I just thought
to myself I don't want to play that team in
the first round of the playoffs they have our number
and and there's certain teams throughout the course of the
season that that do that to you last year seattle
was our nemesis texas this year has kind of flipped
it on them and and seattle's had a real tough
(10:20):
time but texas is beat up their starting rotations beat
up a little bit you got them coming in next
but i don't think you get ahead of this this
oakland uh or i'm sorry this this athletics yeah team
who has really had a tough long run but anything's
possible and just when you think oh the a's are
in town we're going to kind of just steamroll them,
(10:41):
that's when you find yourself losing two out of three.
So you can't keep your guard down right now. You've
got to win every series. And then, like I said,
you get to the end, you see where you're at,
you see where the number's at, then it's like sweep
or we're not going anywhere. So one thing at a time.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
We had, Dick, was it in Boston this last weekend
when Bazzardo had that brain fart at home plate?
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Was that last weekend?
Speaker 4 (11:00):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Okay, so Brett.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
No, that was Toronto. That was Toronto.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Okay, but you haven't been on with us, I think,
since that happened.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
And so my whole deal was this, and I get
that it takes a certain kind of personality. I just think, Brett,
that there's been numerous occasions where Dan Wilson could have
exercised a little bit of muscle uh shown some leadership
yanked the guy out of a game benched the guy
the next day for a brain fart lack of focus
whatever and he's not doing it and and i don't
(11:28):
think you need to be some unbelievable you know hard
ass to do something like that you pull a guy
aside and just say look i love you but we
got to pull you out of the game we can't
have this and he's refuses to do.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
It why well but but soft let's look at the
the some of the scenarios you're talking about you the
two things that stick out to me this week are
the Bizarro play at home play.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Right.
Speaker 4 (11:52):
And then I look at the Julio play in center field.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Right.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
Neither one of a Bizarro busted his butt to get
to the plate to cover. Now it's one thing if
he doesn't cover and he's kind of licking his wounds, like, well,
it was me. It doesn't cover. That's a lack of effort.
The fact is he busted it to home plate, got
in position, but for whatever reason, just was unassuming. Like, Oh,
you don't think somebody's coming down the line. I mean,
(12:16):
I've been in a million tag situations right there. I
can feel the runner coming in. I don't know what
he was thinking. Raleigh got the ball to him plenty
of time. If he just turns to make a quick tag,
he's there. It probably gets the out. It's one of
those unexplained things, and it wasn't a lack of effort like, oh,
he's out there sowing his oats.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
Same thing with the Julio. Let me stop you for
a second. Let's just get those two examples out. There
are numerous examples you know as well as me.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
All right. Of other situations this year.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Correct.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Exactly.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Where you've had brain farts by these guys. Those two,
you want to defend them. That's totally fine. I'm talking
about overall.
Speaker 4 (12:52):
Right.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
The view from 50,000. Right.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
Why?
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Why is he like that?
Speaker 4 (12:58):
I look at teams like this. I've watched a lot
of games all across the schedule. And I was having
a conversation. This Brewers team, this Tampa Bay Rays team,
the way they play baseball. the culture that's been created there,
the culture that starts in the minor leagues. You'll notice
they have very few problems. The other day, the skipper
(13:20):
for the Brewers took out one of his players for
lack of hustle. It was accepted. The team as a
whole accepted it. There was no backlash from the players
because they know it's expected. That starts in the minor league.
That starts as an organization. Now, if you don't have
that culture already in stone in your organization, Just because
(13:43):
it's panic time and it's late August and it's early September,
you can't start going against everything that was accepted before,
if that makes sense. I watch this Milwaukee team. I
watch this Tampa Bay. There's a certain level that's expected
on how you go about your business, how you play
the game. And that's been entrenched. And I don't know
if that's the manager. I don't know if that's the GM.
(14:04):
I don't know if that's the minor league system. But
there is a culture, and it's very noticeable, how they
play baseball different than the other teams. They've got a
few stars sprinkled in on those two teams, but they
don't have a ton of stars on those two rosters.
They just play the game right. They come to the
ballpark and expect to kick your butt. And they worry
about winning a game. They don't worry about individual getting hits.
(14:24):
Of course we want our individual stats. That's how we
get paid. But they worry about playing the game to
win that game that particular night. That is a culture.
And if you're in Seattle and that hasn't been the
way it's been, and this is not how you've treated
your players consistently, all of a sudden, because it's September,
And you start pulling the guys out of the game,
and now I'm going to be this disciplinary. Players see
(14:48):
right through that, and they'll laugh at you. And they
won't buy in, and you'll have almost like the other
side will turn on you because it's not established. Does
that make sense?
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Yeah. Yeah, I guess.
Speaker 4 (15:01):
I just think he– And I think at this stage
of the game, if Danny were to come out and
just say, you're going to be disciplined.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Well, that would be ridiculous. I agree with that. Right.
Speaker 4 (15:11):
Exactly. He's not going to have any credibility if he
does that.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Totally agree. That ship is set.
Speaker 5 (15:18):
But how about a red-ass session in a closed-door office?
Does he do that?
Speaker 4 (15:24):
Or is he just as nice to his players.
Speaker 5 (15:27):
As he is in the postgame when he never says anything.
Speaker 4 (15:30):
That his players do wrong?
Speaker 2 (15:32):
And all he ever says is, tough one tonight.
Speaker 4 (15:38):
Right. And things, especially in the media to the fans
that watch, you start getting irritated with the little things.
Danny is Danny, and I love Danny, but he's not
going to change. And once again, the most important thing
in that clubhouse is players. They see everything. You can't
get anything by a player. They see and hear everything.
(16:00):
If Danny goes out and goes out on a limb
and pulls the, Lou Piniella personality, it's not going to
bode well. They're not going to buy it. So everything's
got to be organic. Everything's got to be very legitimate
and for real. You can't go in there and be
somebody else. You are who you are. You manage how
(16:21):
you manage. And when things get tough, that's just not
Danny's way of conducting business. And it wouldn't fly in
that clubhouse.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Well, I think you're right now.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
I think you're 1,000% right that if he did it now,
they'd just laugh at him, right? I mean, that day
has come and gone. He should have established that from
the start when he took over in August of 2024
when they fired Scott Service, or at least maybe go
into 25 with that.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Kind of an attitude.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
Well, but look at this, though. Look at this scenario. Okay,
Danny takes over. They have a lot of success. Then
a year later, last year, they had one of the
best runs ever. In the last 20 years of the
Seattle Mariner team, and we're a few outs away from
going to the World Series. So all of a sudden,
you know, everybody's liking Danny. He's doing a pretty darn
(17:09):
good job. He's thinking, you know, my way is working.
So all of a sudden, you're going to come to
spring training at 26. Who could have saw this coming
with that roster? All of a sudden, you're going to
be a different guy. I don't think that's really feasible
because for a year and a half, it really worked.
And all of a sudden, it's not working. So we're
going to nitpick, and we're going to pick on every
little thing. danny's danny he's not going to be somebody
(17:30):
else and as much as everybody when things go bad
you want to turn over the you know you want
to turn over the lunch table and do that you've
got to have the right personality to be able to do.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
That yeah i agree with that i think you need
to be able to adjust uh as the situation calls
for it and he wasn't able to adjust when he
needed to be maybe a little bit tougher on his
guys uh just doesn't have it in him uh you're
exactly right danny's danny For sure.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
All right. Booney's Booney. Brett, great stuff. And we will
talk in a week. All right, man. See you. Thanks, man.
You got it.
Speaker 4 (18:01):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
All right. Brett Boone with us on the radio show.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
I mean, I think it's one of the most frustrating
things about this year, Dick, is that, you know, hey, look,
there's a lot of great reasons to be a player's manager.
A lot of great reasons to have a guy's back
and be supportive. There's also a lot of great reasons
for tough love. I mean, you're a parent, right? You
love your kids to death, but when you need to
be tough on them, you're tough on them. And you've
got to have every tool in your toolbox, right, to
(18:24):
raise your kids the right way. And it seems like
he's lacking in tools.
Speaker 5 (18:27):
And I've always been like that as both a parent
and a coach. I give you the rope to hang yourself.
And I warn you, and I warn you calmly, and
I continue to be calm and calm and calm. And
at some point, the calmness ends. and they listen to
it because it doesn't happen often. If somebody's a yeller
(18:47):
all the time, they tune you out. But if somebody's
calm 90% of the time and then gets on your ass,
that's when they listen to you, both kids and the
people that I've coached before.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
I just wonder if he would have established that early
in the year to say, look, guys, I love you,
and last year was great, but we've got to do
this differently now because we're not getting the results we need.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Julio, I love you. Come over here.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
I'm going to put my arm around you. I've got
to bench you for tomorrow. And the team will be
better off for it. You'll be better off for it,
and the team will be better off for it. I
thought the stuff with Pat Murphy and Cooper Pratt, there
was a lot of debate whether or not he should
have pulled him out of a game.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
That's fine.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
But Cooper Pratt's response to it is exactly what I
would have loved to have heard a player say if
Dan Wilson yanked somebody out of a game.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
He said, hey, I get it. You know, I get it.
Speaker 5 (19:32):
And I didn't think Pratt loafed as much as I've
seen Mariners loaf.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
A thousand percent. All right, we're going to break. A
lot more to get to. Jerry Brewer at 5. We'll
do some testimonials at 545 tonight. May head across the
street to the ballpark as well. Lots to get to
between now and 7 on 93.3 KJR FM.
Coming to you live from our Elliott Avenue studios of
Sports Radio 93.3 KJR FM, it's time for our weekly
conversation with former Mariners All-Star Brett Boone. Brought to you
by Venue Kings. Visit VenueKings.com for all your ticket needs.
Now with Booney, here's Softie and Dick.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
All right, here we go. Big thanks to our friends
at VenueKings.com.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Whatever you got your eyes on, Seahawk tickets, Mariner tickets,
Husky tickets, Monday night football against the Bears, the Cowboys,
season opener against the Patriots next Wednesday. Jump on the
web and use code SOFTY at checkout for a discount
right now at VenueKings.com. Here he is, our friend, Brett Boone,
with us right now talking some baseball.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
How are you, pal?
Speaker 4 (00:46):
Afternoon, guys. I'm doing well.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
You know, Dick and I were talking about 25 years ago,
you guys on September 3rd were 60 games over.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
500. 60 games over. 500. Can you go back.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
And just give us... That's a good team right there.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Give us a little anecdote, story, whatever. Put your old
storytelling hat on about.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
What that was like. Uh-oh. It must be going rough.
What was that like?
Speaker 2 (01:14):
No, no, no. We're not there yet.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
We're not talking for Lou Piniella stories, but if you
want to make a Lou Piniella, that's fine. We might
be a week away from Lou Piniella stories.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
We could be. We could be.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
So give us a take on what that was like
to wake up 60 games over 500 25 years ago today.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
I think it got to a point. We're at this
point in the season where we weren't even counting. We
were just like, we're so far over 500. Everybody is
so in the rear view mirror. I think the Oakland Dodgers,
A's that year won 102 or 104 games. They missed
it by 12 games when you won 100. So at
(01:50):
that stage of the season, it was more the hoopla
and all the things we were paying attention to started
in the first couple months because we won 20 games
back-to-back months. And that's, you know, infamously when Johnny Olerud
came over to me at a during a pitching change.
Cause Lou had had that conversation with us in spring
(02:11):
training that you can't just flip a switch. And he
was being Lou and he was yelling at us and
we were all laughing because we were a veteran team
and he was complaining about spring training. We're playing that good.
And that's when, when Johnny Ola route comes to me
and it's the end of May and we just won
20 games, two months in a row. And Johnny, he
(02:31):
comes up with some great ones. I said, Johnny, what
do you got for me today? And he just turned
to me and he said, you know, I guess we
could tell Lou, consider that switch flip. And it just,
it went from there. And I mean, we just, we
just had something about us, an aura. It was the
refuse to lose year and two outs. So what? And
(02:52):
we really felt like that. It was, it was something
that I've never gone through before. It was a, it
was something that was, you know, I don't want to
get woo woo, but it was magical. It was something that,
and we all knew that we all knew. This is
a once-in-a-lifetime thing. You just don't have seasons that go
this smoothly, this easy. I don't think one of our
(03:13):
starters missed a start in the starting rotation. Everybody was
pretty much healthy for the entire year. Everybody was having
career years at the same time, and we would just
win series after series, and we didn't think about it.
It was just, okay, we're going to win, obviously. It
was a matter of, are we going to beat you
in the series, or are we just going to beat you,
(03:33):
or are we going to sweep you? And we didn't
get into the 60 games over 500. We weren't sitting
around looking, you know, talking about what we were doing.
We were just kind of head down, lunch pail, going
to work. I think it was a relief when we
hit the 116. It was like, oh, finally it's over.
And now we had to start the playoffs. So great
(03:55):
memories ended badly. Shamefully, it didn't end the way we
wanted it to do. But it was definitely one of
those seasons where you just can't wait to get ballpark
every day and very rarely at that level do you
have those years where you just can't wait to get
to the ballpark and everybody was similar it's like let's
get to the yard so we can beat someone's butt
(04:17):
and uh never have i been through a season like
that you have peaks and valleys you have peaks where
wow it's really fun right now we just rattled off
10 of 12 but never from from wire to wire.
Speaker 5 (04:28):
Is that what motivated you in the last couple weeks
the 116 because other than that you weren't.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
I think so anything in september Yeah, I think so.
You know, Lou is coming under a lot of heat
for not resting guys. He was kind of it was
a catch 22 for our skipper because he wanted to
rest guys, get them ready for the postseason. The lead
was so big that it didn't matter if we won
or lost the game. But I think he felt that
pressure like, well, we're here. We might as well break
(04:55):
the record if we can. So he kind of we
kept the pedal to the metal the whole season. There's
no excuse. I mean, people speculate, say, oh, should Lou
have rested more people? No. What happened, happened. And it
didn't matter. It wasn't for lack of rest or anything
like that or chasing the record. It was kind of
(05:16):
exciting because it was the first year of Ichiro. So
he had his whole entourage from Japan. You had all
the Japanese media, which we weren't used to having that
many extra media in the clubhouse. Then once we got
on this record pace, we had that post-season type media,
every game, everywhere we went, because it was a national story.
And the questions started to come around the All-Star break.
(05:39):
They started questioning, are you going to win 116? And
we had to answer those questions for two months. And
then finally we did it. And it was like, wow.
It was a big relief. I remember that night, just
finally it's over. They're going to quit asking us about
that question, and we're going to move on. But we
went to the playoffs, and we got beat by New York.
Still to this day, I don't know how. Because during
(06:00):
the season, we handled New York very easily. And going
into that series, we didn't even think twice whether we
were going to win or not. Usually in the postseason,
you're kind of walking on eggshells and, all right, we've
got to play well and we've got to get this
series going. But that particular year, we're just going to
roll into New York and take care of business like
we always have and kind of got blindsided and lost.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
Yeah, well, yeah, you know seven-game series, anything is possible. Well,
let's talk about this team, and Astros won today, so
you're five and a half games out. We were just
doing some math here, so the Astros have 21 games
left to go, and Dick and I just for giggles
just said, okay, the most likely scenario, let's just say 11-10.
Maybe 10 and 11, but we'll just say 500. They
go 11 and 10. The M's have to go 17
(06:41):
and 5 in their last 22 games to catch them
and tie them and win the American League West. That's
125 win pace, by the way, guys, over the final
22 games. I mean, honestly, for lack of a better question,
you think they can do that?
Speaker 4 (06:59):
Well, realistically... writing on the wall? No, I'm not going
to sit here and be a super fan and say,
of course they can do it. Yeah, anything's possible. What
matters is what those players in that clubhouse think. That's
all that matters, is do they think they can? And
I would assume they do think they can because of
the personnel they have there. The problem is Seattle, we
(07:20):
were talking about a few weeks ago, they were going
through a real rough streak where they were having to
play some good teams back to back. Well, we've hit
that the point in the season where it's flipped and
they have the easiest schedule. So that's the positive thing
on the way out. You know, start tonight with the A's.
You can't take anybody for granted. That being said, you
do have the easiest schedule. Texas, I think, in that
(07:41):
division have kind of the middle schedule. And then Houston's
got the toughest down the stretch. So if you're going
to look for positives, the Astros have the toughest run
through the month of September. Seattle has the easiest if
you're looking for positive things to look for. But they're still,
you know, they're teams now that– The athletics, they're looking
to knock somebody off. They have nothing to play for
this season. You've got to find something to play for.
(08:03):
So those teams that have no chance at the playoffs,
they've got to find a reason to play. And nothing
better than just crushing somebody's dream right there on the
cusp of trying to get a playoff bid.
Speaker 5 (08:15):
Well, you used the term flip a switch when you
were talking about 2021. I mean, that seems like Dan
Wilson's M.O. I mean, he flipped a switch in 2024
when he got here in September. They flipped the switch
and went 17-1 last year down the stretch. Can he
flip a switch? It looked like they flipped the switch
in Boston. They had a good series in Boston. So,
I mean, is it possible for him to just be
(08:37):
that type of manager that can flip the switch when
the season gets late?
Speaker 4 (08:43):
Once again, I'd love to sit there and say absolutely.
But I don't know anybody that can just flip the
switch when they need to. That doesn't have a bat
or a glove in their hand. That can affect you
on the field.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
You're right.
Speaker 4 (08:56):
They beat a good Red Sox team. They beat them
two out of three. Coming off a sweep from Toronto,
you can't get swept by Toronto. I know Toronto's playing
better now. I think they've won five out of six,
but you can't at this stage of the season with
everything on the line, you just can't lose three straight.
You followed up with, no, you went two out of
three and now it's a headache. At this stage, you
(09:17):
just got to go into series and you can't think
about sweeps. At the end, you got to think, okay,
now we got to sweep if the numbers work out
that way. But right now, I think you take small
samples and just say, no, we got to win tonight. But,
but if you want to go a little longer term,
we've got to win every series from here on out.
They've got Texas coming up after, after the A's. Okay.
(09:39):
For years and years have, have they've had Texas's number. Well,
this year they've, they've talked about flipping the switch or
flipping the script, uh, Texas has kind of flipped it
on Seattle this year and has had their number. And
last year, coming out of there, I think I told
this on the program a few weeks ago. Man, I
left Seattle last year when we were in a playoff hunt.
(09:59):
we're in that wild card hunt and I left Seattle
and and we played them twice and I just thought
to myself I don't want to play that team in
the first round of the playoffs they have our number
and and there's certain teams throughout the course of the
season that that do that to you last year seattle
was our nemesis texas this year has kind of flipped
it on them and and seattle's had a real tough
(10:20):
time but texas is beat up their starting rotations beat
up a little bit you got them coming in next
but i don't think you get ahead of this this
oakland uh or i'm sorry this this athletics yeah team
who has really had a tough long run but anything's
possible and just when you think oh the a's are
in town we're going to kind of just steamroll them,
(10:41):
that's when you find yourself losing two out of three.
So you can't keep your guard down right now. You've
got to win every series. And then, like I said,
you get to the end, you see where you're at,
you see where the number's at, then it's like sweep
or we're not going anywhere. So one thing at a time.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
We had, Dick, was it in Boston this last weekend
when Bazzardo had that brain fart at home plate?
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Was that last weekend?
Speaker 4 (11:00):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Okay, so Brett.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
No, that was Toronto. That was Toronto.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Okay, but you haven't been on with us, I think,
since that happened.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
And so my whole deal was this, and I get
that it takes a certain kind of personality. I just think, Brett,
that there's been numerous occasions where Dan Wilson could have
exercised a little bit of muscle uh shown some leadership
yanked the guy out of a game benched the guy
the next day for a brain fart lack of focus
whatever and he's not doing it and and i don't
(11:28):
think you need to be some unbelievable you know hard
ass to do something like that you pull a guy
aside and just say look i love you but we
got to pull you out of the game we can't
have this and he's refuses to do.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
It why well but but soft let's look at the
the some of the scenarios you're talking about you the
two things that stick out to me this week are
the Bizarro play at home play.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Right.
Speaker 4 (11:52):
And then I look at the Julio play in center field.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Right.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
Neither one of a Bizarro busted his butt to get
to the plate to cover. Now it's one thing if
he doesn't cover and he's kind of licking his wounds, like, well,
it was me. It doesn't cover. That's a lack of effort.
The fact is he busted it to home plate, got
in position, but for whatever reason, just was unassuming. Like, Oh,
you don't think somebody's coming down the line. I mean,
(12:16):
I've been in a million tag situations right there. I
can feel the runner coming in. I don't know what
he was thinking. Raleigh got the ball to him plenty
of time. If he just turns to make a quick tag,
he's there. It probably gets the out. It's one of
those unexplained things, and it wasn't a lack of effort like, oh,
he's out there sowing his oats.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
Same thing with the Julio. Let me stop you for
a second. Let's just get those two examples out. There
are numerous examples you know as well as me.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
All right. Of other situations this year.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Correct.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Exactly.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Where you've had brain farts by these guys. Those two,
you want to defend them. That's totally fine. I'm talking
about overall.
Speaker 4 (12:52):
Right.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
The view from 50,000. Right.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
Why?
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Why is he like that?
Speaker 4 (12:58):
I look at teams like this. I've watched a lot
of games all across the schedule. And I was having
a conversation. This Brewers team, this Tampa Bay Rays team,
the way they play baseball. the culture that's been created there,
the culture that starts in the minor leagues. You'll notice
they have very few problems. The other day, the skipper
(13:20):
for the Brewers took out one of his players for
lack of hustle. It was accepted. The team as a
whole accepted it. There was no backlash from the players
because they know it's expected. That starts in the minor league.
That starts as an organization. Now, if you don't have
that culture already in stone in your organization, Just because
(13:43):
it's panic time and it's late August and it's early September,
you can't start going against everything that was accepted before,
if that makes sense. I watch this Milwaukee team. I
watch this Tampa Bay. There's a certain level that's expected
on how you go about your business, how you play
the game. And that's been entrenched. And I don't know
if that's the manager. I don't know if that's the GM.
(14:04):
I don't know if that's the minor league system. But
there is a culture, and it's very noticeable, how they
play baseball different than the other teams. They've got a
few stars sprinkled in on those two teams, but they
don't have a ton of stars on those two rosters.
They just play the game right. They come to the
ballpark and expect to kick your butt. And they worry
about winning a game. They don't worry about individual getting hits.
(14:24):
Of course we want our individual stats. That's how we
get paid. But they worry about playing the game to
win that game that particular night. That is a culture.
And if you're in Seattle and that hasn't been the
way it's been, and this is not how you've treated
your players consistently, all of a sudden, because it's September,
And you start pulling the guys out of the game,
and now I'm going to be this disciplinary. Players see
(14:48):
right through that, and they'll laugh at you. And they
won't buy in, and you'll have almost like the other
side will turn on you because it's not established. Does
that make sense?
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Yeah. Yeah, I guess.
Speaker 4 (15:01):
I just think he– And I think at this stage
of the game, if Danny were to come out and
just say, you're going to be disciplined.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Well, that would be ridiculous. I agree with that. Right.
Speaker 4 (15:11):
Exactly. He's not going to have any credibility if he
does that.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Totally agree. That ship is set.
Speaker 5 (15:18):
But how about a red-ass session in a closed-door office?
Does he do that?
Speaker 4 (15:24):
Or is he just as nice to his players.
Speaker 5 (15:27):
As he is in the postgame when he never says anything.
Speaker 4 (15:30):
That his players do wrong?
Speaker 2 (15:32):
And all he ever says is, tough one tonight.
Speaker 4 (15:38):
Right. And things, especially in the media to the fans
that watch, you start getting irritated with the little things.
Danny is Danny, and I love Danny, but he's not
going to change. And once again, the most important thing
in that clubhouse is players. They see everything. You can't
get anything by a player. They see and hear everything.
(16:00):
If Danny goes out and goes out on a limb
and pulls the, Lou Piniella personality, it's not going to
bode well. They're not going to buy it. So everything's
got to be organic. Everything's got to be very legitimate
and for real. You can't go in there and be
somebody else. You are who you are. You manage how
(16:21):
you manage. And when things get tough, that's just not
Danny's way of conducting business. And it wouldn't fly in
that clubhouse.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Well, I think you're right now.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
I think you're 1,000% right that if he did it now,
they'd just laugh at him, right? I mean, that day
has come and gone. He should have established that from
the start when he took over in August of 2024
when they fired Scott Service, or at least maybe go
into 25 with that.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Kind of an attitude.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
Well, but look at this, though. Look at this scenario. Okay,
Danny takes over. They have a lot of success. Then
a year later, last year, they had one of the
best runs ever. In the last 20 years of the
Seattle Mariner team, and we're a few outs away from
going to the World Series. So all of a sudden,
you know, everybody's liking Danny. He's doing a pretty darn
(17:09):
good job. He's thinking, you know, my way is working.
So all of a sudden, you're going to come to
spring training at 26. Who could have saw this coming
with that roster? All of a sudden, you're going to
be a different guy. I don't think that's really feasible
because for a year and a half, it really worked.
And all of a sudden, it's not working. So we're
going to nitpick, and we're going to pick on every
little thing. danny's danny he's not going to be somebody
(17:30):
else and as much as everybody when things go bad
you want to turn over the you know you want
to turn over the lunch table and do that you've
got to have the right personality to be able to do.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
That yeah i agree with that i think you need
to be able to adjust uh as the situation calls
for it and he wasn't able to adjust when he
needed to be maybe a little bit tougher on his
guys uh just doesn't have it in him uh you're
exactly right danny's danny For sure.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
All right. Booney's Booney. Brett, great stuff. And we will
talk in a week. All right, man. See you. Thanks, man.
You got it.
Speaker 4 (18:01):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
All right. Brett Boone with us on the radio show.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
I mean, I think it's one of the most frustrating
things about this year, Dick, is that, you know, hey, look,
there's a lot of great reasons to be a player's manager.
A lot of great reasons to have a guy's back
and be supportive. There's also a lot of great reasons
for tough love. I mean, you're a parent, right? You
love your kids to death, but when you need to
be tough on them, you're tough on them. And you've
got to have every tool in your toolbox, right, to
(18:24):
raise your kids the right way. And it seems like
he's lacking in tools.
Speaker 5 (18:27):
And I've always been like that as both a parent
and a coach. I give you the rope to hang yourself.
And I warn you, and I warn you calmly, and
I continue to be calm and calm and calm. And
at some point, the calmness ends. and they listen to
it because it doesn't happen often. If somebody's a yeller
(18:47):
all the time, they tune you out. But if somebody's
calm 90% of the time and then gets on your ass,
that's when they listen to you, both kids and the
people that I've coached before.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
I just wonder if he would have established that early
in the year to say, look, guys, I love you,
and last year was great, but we've got to do
this differently now because we're not getting the results we need.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Julio, I love you. Come over here.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
I'm going to put my arm around you. I've got
to bench you for tomorrow. And the team will be
better off for it. You'll be better off for it,
and the team will be better off for it. I
thought the stuff with Pat Murphy and Cooper Pratt, there
was a lot of debate whether or not he should
have pulled him out of a game.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
That's fine.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
But Cooper Pratt's response to it is exactly what I
would have loved to have heard a player say if
Dan Wilson yanked somebody out of a game.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
He said, hey, I get it. You know, I get it.
Speaker 5 (19:32):
And I didn't think Pratt loafed as much as I've
seen Mariners loaf.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
A thousand percent. All right, we're going to break. A
lot more to get to. Jerry Brewer at 5. We'll
do some testimonials at 545 tonight. May head across the
street to the ballpark as well. Lots to get to
between now and 7 on 93.3 KJR FM.
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