October 21, 2025 • 17 mins
Legendary writer Larry Stone joins Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain to react to the Mariners season ending loss in game seven of the ALCS in Toronto, the entire season and how it will be remembered, plus what will come next for the team in the off-season.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's time for our weekly conversation with legendary sports writer
Larry Stone, brought to you by the Ram Restaurant and Brewery, Bigger,
Better and fresher since nineteen seventy one, with eight Fugit
Sound locations from Marysville to Lacey and everywhere in between.
There's a rim there you now with Softy and Dick,
here's Larry Stone.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
A week ago, we had Larry on the air and
we asked him at the end of the conversation, when
we're talking a week from now, what is the conversation going.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
To be all about?
Speaker 2 (00:32):
And Larry had told us we'd be talking about this
team in the World Series.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
And they were eight outs away.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Man, biggest gut punch is a fan for me, I know,
Dick Fane agrees with that. Jackson agrees with that. Why
don't we just give you the floor and let you
respond to one of the absolute biggest heartbreaks I think
any of us have ever been a part of, and
(00:59):
maybe the biggest ever. Your thoughts on what we saw
last night?
Speaker 4 (01:02):
Yeah, well, I was at the Seahawks when they lost
in the last second. This was comparable to that, I think,
but the difference was they had won the title the
year before. This team was trying to get to the
championship round for the first time.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
And what's so maddening is it was.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
In their grasp. It was there, you know, going up
to to nothing on the road, then then faltering at home,
and but but winning that great Game five that swore
as Grand Slam, and then losing two on the road again,
and then then blowing a three to one lead in
the in the seventh inning. It's just it's unfathomable. Just
(01:42):
you know that what comes to my mind is the
the ted Lasso line. It's the hope that will kill
you. You know. Fans were just allowed themselves to finally dream
the impossible dream there and it was snatched away from them.
And I think that just makes it exponentially more more painful,
is that they had started to believe against their better judgment.
Speaker 5 (02:02):
Larry Dan has taken a lot of heat, no question
about it, not just for the seventh inning, but for
for a lot of different decisions. How warranted is that criticism.
Let's just kind of focus on game number seven right now.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
Yeah, the decision to bring in Bizarto I just didn't
agree with at the time, and I find it. You know,
the more I the more I reflect on it, the worst,
the worse it becomes. It's it's the leverage situation of
all leverage situations, you know, the seasons on the line,
you go to your best guy, and your best guy
(02:36):
is Munnos.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
You know he hadn't faced uh uh, he hadn't faced
Springer yet in the in the postseason, he had, he
was fresh, he hadn't worked for two days. Bizardo had
worked two innings.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Granted he's only thrown fifteen pitches in those two.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
Innings the day before, incredibly efficient two innings.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
But uh, I.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
Think in that situation, you just you you got to
live and die with your best guy, and it gets Munno.
So I think it just started to clean out of
control when that decision was made.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
So talk me through kind of how that would have
played out, because some folks would say, and I saw
Ben Verlander, who covers baseball as Justin's brother, all over
Twitter agreeing with you right saying they should have gone
to Munno's the ninth inning at that point in time,
be damned, get this out, get out of there, and
we can worry about the eighth and worry about the
(03:31):
ninth when they come around. Would that have been kind
of your mo that the only thing that matters right
now is getting out of here and we can deal
with the eighth in ten minutes.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 4 (03:43):
I think in the best case scenario, Munus gets out
of that jam, works the eighth, and then depending on
his pitch count, maybe even bring him back to start
the ninth. But you also have all those starters that
could finish the game. You know, it could have been Miller,
it could have been fdo you had a rested spire.
(04:03):
You know, there were options there that you could have
gone to in the ninth, but you know, you got
to you got to get there. And you know, it
reminded me of the year that I think it was
twenty fourteen when Buck Sholwalter never brought in his closer
who with that year it had like fifty something saved
Britain because he was saving him for a safe situation
(04:25):
that never came. And I don't know if you remember,
but he was just lamb based it by you know,
all the stat nerds everybody, and the same people who
are lamb basing Wilson as a matter of fact, Well.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Why I mean but let's let's let's try to approach
it from the other side for a second. Why would
he not do that?
Speaker 5 (04:44):
Right?
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Like, what what were they thinking? And you know Dan
was asked about it last night and I think Adam
wrote about this in the paper that you know, Dan's
never going to give you anything really of detail. He's
gonna speak in tongues, he's gonna use pliches, it's a
lot of coach speak. He's never gonna get to the point.
I mean, jet Fish is the exact opposite with the media,
(05:05):
right that Wilson's the same guy now Larry with the
media as he was when he was a player. But
if you were in a private moment with Dan and
you asked him what was your logic in going to
Bizardo and not going to Munyos, what do you think
he would say?
Speaker 4 (05:22):
Well, I think he would say, one, I wanted to
save Munyos for the final two innings. That's that's been
his role off season. And he would say I've seen
Bizarto get out of jams like this all season and
he did it in Game five miraculously against Detroit And
you know, wriggled out of seemingly impossible situation. The night before,
(05:45):
he'd breathed through two innings on like I said, fifteen
pitches and two innings, fourteen strikes. He had struck out
Springer or I'm not sure if he had, but.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
He'd gotten Springer out, and so I think that's what
he would go on.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
We believe in Bizardo. He's done it all year and
that was his spot. But you know that, I think
that's fine for every other game, but in a month,
a true must win game, I think you've got to uh.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
Not just fall back on. Uh, that's what we've done
all year, Larry.
Speaker 5 (06:22):
He'd been able to stretch it out a little more
if he had had his starter, who was absolutely nails
go another inning. I was stunned when I saw that
George Kirby was taken out of that game. Were you surprised?
Speaker 4 (06:35):
No, I wasn't, And I just I disagree with you
on that one. I don't blame I don't blame him
for that one. I mean, the third time through the
order is a huge consideration. It was nine to one two,
so he would have started around the third time in
that fifth inning. Uh, He's We've seen Kirby kind of
Falter and that third time around the order before I
(06:58):
think you you you got I think they they had
it set up perfectly, four for four for Kirby, three
for Wu, and then two the final two for Munnos,
and it just got away from them when Wu, you know,
they facing the seven and eight hitters, gave up a
walk which which was you know, that really came back
(07:21):
to haunt them. And then a single that I think
it was kind of filefa that easily could have been
a double play if it's a couple of feet in
the other direction, but it wasn't, and what it got
through and so that that's when he had to get
away from what I think they had drawn up, which
was Wu for three innings.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
It just didn't work out well.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Larry Stones with us and Larry look, I mean obviously
for for years, for decades, right, we're going to be
debating this. I mean we still debate you know, Kasazaki
Arthur Rhodes in New York in two thousand and one, uh,
you know, twenty twenty four to twenty five years later.
So this is the beauty of baseball that these these
things are never ever going away. But you know, I
I I just wonder how much responsibility as well do
(08:03):
we put on the starting pitching for the rest of
this series and the bottom of the order for the
Mariners that just did not show up at all when
let's face it, Blue Jays offense did.
Speaker 4 (08:15):
Yeah. No, I think that's that's spot on you. You asked,
when you asked me last week, who would we be
talking about the Mariners in the World Series? I said yeah,
and I said this because they have better starting pitching,
a better bullpen, and better offense. And I think I
was wrong on just about every count there. You know,
I think, uh, maybe in the big picture they have
(08:37):
a better bullpen and better starting, but it did not
show up in the series. And the same with the offense,
because you know they had they had three guys over
one thousand ops in Naylor, Julio and cal but pretty
much that was it. Camzone oh ninety one, rivas O
seventy one, Robalists oh seventy seven, Crawford won forty three.
(08:59):
I mean, they got nothing from the bottom of the order,
and then the starting pitching, which is the strength of
this team, just didn't come through. Castillo had a short
start where he got hit around. Uh, you know, Gilbert
didn't look good at all, and two starts, Kirby had
that one really bad start. Uh. The only guy who
(09:19):
really came through was was Miller, the guy who wouldn't
have even been starting if who was healthy. He had
he had the one great starting game one and then
was solid again in his next start. So that was
the most disappointing thing to me, I think was the
starting pitching was not as dominant as I think we
all thought it would be. I mean, how many years
(09:40):
have we said the Mariners were a team built for
the postseason just get in and with that starting rotation,
they would they they could go all the way. And
they got in and the starting rotation for whatever reason,
I honestly, you know, I thought this, and I think
Schmolt said the same thing, sort of validing what I'd
and thinking that fifteen inning game kind.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Of threw everything off.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
You know, you had to use both Castillo and and Gilbert,
and I think it just it just threw off everything.
The guys pitching on short rest, and I'm not sure
that they ever they ever got back to themselves, and
so you know, I mean that's excuse making and everything,
but I think that may have been a factor.
Speaker 5 (10:24):
Larry, do you think this failure will actually help them
in the future, maybe as soon as next year.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
I would you would hope so in a couple of ways.
Dick motivation obviously for the players, like you know, not
wanting to have that happen again, you know, re dedicating
themselves to ensuring that it's not going to happen again, that.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
Sort of thing.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
And you'd hope that for management ownership it would make them,
you know, want to do everything it takes to build
a team and fill the weaknesses of this team that
were evident that they were evident as the postseason went on.
You know, they were short a bat and they were
short a relief arm, you know, to address those and
(11:11):
make sure that you know that they're a team that
excuse me, if they get in that situation again, can
can get over the hump.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Well, I'm very curious to see how ownership responds to this,
you know, I mean, they blew a ten game lead
a year ago, and we saw how they responded over
the offseason and it was with nothing. They went and
got Polonco for seven point five million is their big ticket.
But I don't think anybody thought Hora Polonko don't do
what he was going to do, including Hora Polonko, And
(11:42):
I do also wonder, you know, for Stanton Larson, you know,
the people that control the purse strings over there. Man,
If there's ever a time to do it, it's now.
Because of what you just said. They should be motivated
after this failure, after smelling it and tasting it. They
should want it now as badly as they've ever wanted.
And let's face it, guys, this coming off season could
(12:04):
be the last offseason that they're ever expected to go
out and spend a buttload of money because there could
be a salary cap in twenty twenty six. Who knows
where this thing's going with the lockout Larry in December. Man,
So are we going to get a real feel for
how motivated these guys, these guys are and how pissed
(12:24):
off they are about what happened yesterday by their actions
over this offseason.
Speaker 4 (12:29):
Yeah, I think that's a fair statement. And you know,
I'd be surprised theoretically if it didn't light a fire
hunt him to do to, you know, the step that
they haven't always done in the past. I think, starting
with Naylor, I think you've got to make that priority one,
and I think that's very doable. For everything he said
(12:52):
was how much he loved it here and playing here,
you know, loved the ballpark, which a lot of free
agents don't say, and the teammates, and you know, it
just seems a perfect fit. That doesn't mean it's going
to happen, because there'll be other suitors, but I think
they can make that happen.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
And you know.
Speaker 4 (13:11):
I think there's a chance that this will help them
in the regard that Seattle hasn't been a great destination
for top level free agents beyond money, just I think
a lot of free agents want to go to a chance,
a place where they have a chance to win and
win a championship, and I don't think Seattle was perceived
as that place. But I think potential free agents can't help.
(13:33):
But look at what they have going now and how
close they got this year, and we realize that this
is a team that is poised to win a championship
with a few additions, and there may be some guys
who want to be that guy that puts them over
the top. And I think also the environment. I think
the fans going crazy in Seattle and those games on TV.
(13:56):
I think that played well also as entire seeing you
know place to play if you're a free agent, So
we'll see if if you know, still the money has
to still be right. But I think I think Seattle
increased their their reputation as a good destination for free agents.
Speaker 5 (14:15):
How do you think we'll remember this team? Will we
remember it fondly?
Speaker 4 (14:20):
Well, I think it's going to be a mixed thing.
I think it will be remembered fondly as the team
that got them back to the Alcs and got within
a game of the World Series. But I think ultimately
it will be remembered. You know, cal Cal himself said
it a failure. You know, it's a harsh word, and
you could be a you could be a success and
(14:40):
a failure.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
This is this team was.
Speaker 4 (14:43):
Successful in a lot of ways, but in the end
it was a failure because they didn't when they were
so close and had it in their grass, they let
it slip away.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
So I think.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
That that dual reality will be how this team is remembered.
But but probably more towards the the Springer home run, Well,
it'll be painful. I think more than anything, it'll be
a painful memory of a season that had, up until
the seventh inning had been you know, joyous and memorable
and all those positive things.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Well, you said it perfectly at the top when you
said that we all allowed ourselves to actually start believing
that this was going to happen, and they ripped it away.
And my wife told me last night when I got
home from you know, Jimmy, she said, you know what,
I wish we were the Brewers. I wish we'd just
got our ass kicked in four consecutive games, because that
would have been way less painful than this.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
You agree with that, Yes, I've thought that in the past.
Sometimes it hurts more to almost get there and have
you know, which technically is a more successful season. But
you know, like you said, when when you get your
butt kicked, or you don't even get that far, like
say they've lost to Detroit or something like that, I
(15:55):
think that would have been less painful than this than
to have the have it just just over the horizon.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
But you can't get there.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
No doubt. Larry Listen Man love having you on this
entire baseball season. Couldn't have done it without you. And
next time we need a professional therapist. To talk us
through life's painful moments. We will definitely be turning to you.
All right, so stand by.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
I'll go half priced for you, guys. Done your usual rate?
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Yeah, Larry, we love you. We'll talk somebody, okay, all right,
thanks guys. All right, Larry Stone with us on the air.
We got like a minute left. Was it a failure?
You agree with cal Rawley.
Speaker 5 (16:37):
Oh, I think the series was a failure, no question.
The ending was a failure. I don't think the season
was a failure. Yes, it certainly. It certainly ends a
big flop and and really things that could have been prevented.
That's what makes me sewing right.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Yeah, Jackson successful year for me, and I think that
a lot of that is based on the everything that
came before last night. Yeah, I think, as Larry said,
both of those truths can exist. I think it was
the greatest season in Mariner baseball history. You came with
an eight out of the World Series, you got as
far as you ever went. But it also left me
(17:13):
with the greatest disappointments I've ever had in my life
as a baseball fan. And the further you go, the
higher you climb, the harder you fall. And this was
the highest climb and it was the hardest fall I've
ever felt as a sports fan in anything, Super Bowls, Huskies, basketball, baseball, whatever.
(17:33):
So we'll see you know again. Like we said earlier,
what are we supposed to now? We just keep waiting, man,
Just keep waiting and come back again next year because
there's nothing else to do. We'll get out of here
cracking Capital's pregame Mike Benton's Got You Next on ninety
three to three KJRFM.
It's time for our weekly conversation with legendary sports writer
Larry Stone, brought to you by the Ram Restaurant and Brewery, Bigger,
Better and fresher since nineteen seventy one, with eight Fugit
Sound locations from Marysville to Lacey and everywhere in between.
There's a rim there you now with Softy and Dick,
here's Larry Stone.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
A week ago, we had Larry on the air and
we asked him at the end of the conversation, when
we're talking a week from now, what is the conversation going.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
To be all about?
Speaker 2 (00:32):
And Larry had told us we'd be talking about this
team in the World Series.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
And they were eight outs away.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Man, biggest gut punch is a fan for me, I know,
Dick Fane agrees with that. Jackson agrees with that. Why
don't we just give you the floor and let you
respond to one of the absolute biggest heartbreaks I think
any of us have ever been a part of, and
(00:59):
maybe the biggest ever. Your thoughts on what we saw
last night?
Speaker 4 (01:02):
Yeah, well, I was at the Seahawks when they lost
in the last second. This was comparable to that, I think,
but the difference was they had won the title the
year before. This team was trying to get to the
championship round for the first time.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
And what's so maddening is it was.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
In their grasp. It was there, you know, going up
to to nothing on the road, then then faltering at home,
and but but winning that great Game five that swore
as Grand Slam, and then losing two on the road again,
and then then blowing a three to one lead in
the in the seventh inning. It's just it's unfathomable. Just
(01:42):
you know that what comes to my mind is the
the ted Lasso line. It's the hope that will kill
you. You know. Fans were just allowed themselves to finally dream
the impossible dream there and it was snatched away from them.
And I think that just makes it exponentially more more painful,
is that they had started to believe against their better judgment.
Speaker 5 (02:02):
Larry Dan has taken a lot of heat, no question
about it, not just for the seventh inning, but for
for a lot of different decisions. How warranted is that criticism.
Let's just kind of focus on game number seven right now.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
Yeah, the decision to bring in Bizarto I just didn't
agree with at the time, and I find it. You know,
the more I the more I reflect on it, the worst,
the worse it becomes. It's it's the leverage situation of
all leverage situations, you know, the seasons on the line,
you go to your best guy, and your best guy
(02:36):
is Munnos.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
You know he hadn't faced uh uh, he hadn't faced
Springer yet in the in the postseason, he had, he
was fresh, he hadn't worked for two days. Bizardo had
worked two innings.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Granted he's only thrown fifteen pitches in those two.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
Innings the day before, incredibly efficient two innings.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
But uh, I.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
Think in that situation, you just you you got to
live and die with your best guy, and it gets Munno.
So I think it just started to clean out of
control when that decision was made.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
So talk me through kind of how that would have
played out, because some folks would say, and I saw
Ben Verlander, who covers baseball as Justin's brother, all over
Twitter agreeing with you right saying they should have gone
to Munno's the ninth inning at that point in time,
be damned, get this out, get out of there, and
we can worry about the eighth and worry about the
(03:31):
ninth when they come around. Would that have been kind
of your mo that the only thing that matters right
now is getting out of here and we can deal
with the eighth in ten minutes.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 4 (03:43):
I think in the best case scenario, Munus gets out
of that jam, works the eighth, and then depending on
his pitch count, maybe even bring him back to start
the ninth. But you also have all those starters that
could finish the game. You know, it could have been Miller,
it could have been fdo you had a rested spire.
(04:03):
You know, there were options there that you could have
gone to in the ninth, but you know, you got
to you got to get there. And you know, it
reminded me of the year that I think it was
twenty fourteen when Buck Sholwalter never brought in his closer
who with that year it had like fifty something saved
Britain because he was saving him for a safe situation
(04:25):
that never came. And I don't know if you remember,
but he was just lamb based it by you know,
all the stat nerds everybody, and the same people who
are lamb basing Wilson as a matter of fact, Well.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Why I mean but let's let's let's try to approach
it from the other side for a second. Why would
he not do that?
Speaker 5 (04:44):
Right?
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Like, what what were they thinking? And you know Dan
was asked about it last night and I think Adam
wrote about this in the paper that you know, Dan's
never going to give you anything really of detail. He's
gonna speak in tongues, he's gonna use pliches, it's a
lot of coach speak. He's never gonna get to the point.
I mean, jet Fish is the exact opposite with the media,
(05:05):
right that Wilson's the same guy now Larry with the
media as he was when he was a player. But
if you were in a private moment with Dan and
you asked him what was your logic in going to
Bizardo and not going to Munyos, what do you think
he would say?
Speaker 4 (05:22):
Well, I think he would say, one, I wanted to
save Munyos for the final two innings. That's that's been
his role off season. And he would say I've seen
Bizarto get out of jams like this all season and
he did it in Game five miraculously against Detroit And
you know, wriggled out of seemingly impossible situation. The night before,
(05:45):
he'd breathed through two innings on like I said, fifteen
pitches and two innings, fourteen strikes. He had struck out
Springer or I'm not sure if he had, but.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
He'd gotten Springer out, and so I think that's what
he would go on.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
We believe in Bizardo. He's done it all year and
that was his spot. But you know that, I think
that's fine for every other game, but in a month,
a true must win game, I think you've got to uh.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
Not just fall back on. Uh, that's what we've done
all year, Larry.
Speaker 5 (06:22):
He'd been able to stretch it out a little more
if he had had his starter, who was absolutely nails
go another inning. I was stunned when I saw that
George Kirby was taken out of that game. Were you surprised?
Speaker 4 (06:35):
No, I wasn't, And I just I disagree with you
on that one. I don't blame I don't blame him
for that one. I mean, the third time through the
order is a huge consideration. It was nine to one two,
so he would have started around the third time in
that fifth inning. Uh, He's We've seen Kirby kind of
Falter and that third time around the order before I
(06:58):
think you you you got I think they they had
it set up perfectly, four for four for Kirby, three
for Wu, and then two the final two for Munnos,
and it just got away from them when Wu, you know,
they facing the seven and eight hitters, gave up a
walk which which was you know, that really came back
(07:21):
to haunt them. And then a single that I think
it was kind of filefa that easily could have been
a double play if it's a couple of feet in
the other direction, but it wasn't, and what it got
through and so that that's when he had to get
away from what I think they had drawn up, which
was Wu for three innings.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
It just didn't work out well.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Larry Stones with us and Larry look, I mean obviously
for for years, for decades, right, we're going to be
debating this. I mean we still debate you know, Kasazaki
Arthur Rhodes in New York in two thousand and one, uh,
you know, twenty twenty four to twenty five years later.
So this is the beauty of baseball that these these
things are never ever going away. But you know, I
I I just wonder how much responsibility as well do
(08:03):
we put on the starting pitching for the rest of
this series and the bottom of the order for the
Mariners that just did not show up at all when
let's face it, Blue Jays offense did.
Speaker 4 (08:15):
Yeah. No, I think that's that's spot on you. You asked,
when you asked me last week, who would we be
talking about the Mariners in the World Series? I said yeah,
and I said this because they have better starting pitching,
a better bullpen, and better offense. And I think I
was wrong on just about every count there. You know,
I think, uh, maybe in the big picture they have
(08:37):
a better bullpen and better starting, but it did not
show up in the series. And the same with the offense,
because you know they had they had three guys over
one thousand ops in Naylor, Julio and cal but pretty
much that was it. Camzone oh ninety one, rivas O
seventy one, Robalists oh seventy seven, Crawford won forty three.
(08:59):
I mean, they got nothing from the bottom of the order,
and then the starting pitching, which is the strength of
this team, just didn't come through. Castillo had a short
start where he got hit around. Uh, you know, Gilbert
didn't look good at all, and two starts, Kirby had
that one really bad start. Uh. The only guy who
(09:19):
really came through was was Miller, the guy who wouldn't
have even been starting if who was healthy. He had
he had the one great starting game one and then
was solid again in his next start. So that was
the most disappointing thing to me, I think was the
starting pitching was not as dominant as I think we
all thought it would be. I mean, how many years
(09:40):
have we said the Mariners were a team built for
the postseason just get in and with that starting rotation,
they would they they could go all the way. And
they got in and the starting rotation for whatever reason,
I honestly, you know, I thought this, and I think
Schmolt said the same thing, sort of validing what I'd
and thinking that fifteen inning game kind.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Of threw everything off.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
You know, you had to use both Castillo and and Gilbert,
and I think it just it just threw off everything.
The guys pitching on short rest, and I'm not sure
that they ever they ever got back to themselves, and
so you know, I mean that's excuse making and everything,
but I think that may have been a factor.
Speaker 5 (10:24):
Larry, do you think this failure will actually help them
in the future, maybe as soon as next year.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
I would you would hope so in a couple of ways.
Dick motivation obviously for the players, like you know, not
wanting to have that happen again, you know, re dedicating
themselves to ensuring that it's not going to happen again, that.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
Sort of thing.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
And you'd hope that for management ownership it would make them,
you know, want to do everything it takes to build
a team and fill the weaknesses of this team that
were evident that they were evident as the postseason went on.
You know, they were short a bat and they were
short a relief arm, you know, to address those and
(11:11):
make sure that you know that they're a team that
excuse me, if they get in that situation again, can
can get over the hump.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Well, I'm very curious to see how ownership responds to this,
you know, I mean, they blew a ten game lead
a year ago, and we saw how they responded over
the offseason and it was with nothing. They went and
got Polonco for seven point five million is their big ticket.
But I don't think anybody thought Hora Polonko don't do
what he was going to do, including Hora Polonko, And
(11:42):
I do also wonder, you know, for Stanton Larson, you know,
the people that control the purse strings over there. Man,
If there's ever a time to do it, it's now.
Because of what you just said. They should be motivated
after this failure, after smelling it and tasting it. They
should want it now as badly as they've ever wanted.
And let's face it, guys, this coming off season could
(12:04):
be the last offseason that they're ever expected to go
out and spend a buttload of money because there could
be a salary cap in twenty twenty six. Who knows
where this thing's going with the lockout Larry in December. Man,
So are we going to get a real feel for
how motivated these guys, these guys are and how pissed
(12:24):
off they are about what happened yesterday by their actions
over this offseason.
Speaker 4 (12:29):
Yeah, I think that's a fair statement. And you know,
I'd be surprised theoretically if it didn't light a fire
hunt him to do to, you know, the step that
they haven't always done in the past. I think, starting
with Naylor, I think you've got to make that priority one,
and I think that's very doable. For everything he said
(12:52):
was how much he loved it here and playing here,
you know, loved the ballpark, which a lot of free
agents don't say, and the teammates, and you know, it
just seems a perfect fit. That doesn't mean it's going
to happen, because there'll be other suitors, but I think
they can make that happen.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
And you know.
Speaker 4 (13:11):
I think there's a chance that this will help them
in the regard that Seattle hasn't been a great destination
for top level free agents beyond money, just I think
a lot of free agents want to go to a chance,
a place where they have a chance to win and
win a championship, and I don't think Seattle was perceived
as that place. But I think potential free agents can't help.
(13:33):
But look at what they have going now and how
close they got this year, and we realize that this
is a team that is poised to win a championship
with a few additions, and there may be some guys
who want to be that guy that puts them over
the top. And I think also the environment. I think
the fans going crazy in Seattle and those games on TV.
(13:56):
I think that played well also as entire seeing you
know place to play if you're a free agent, So
we'll see if if you know, still the money has
to still be right. But I think I think Seattle
increased their their reputation as a good destination for free agents.
Speaker 5 (14:15):
How do you think we'll remember this team? Will we
remember it fondly?
Speaker 4 (14:20):
Well, I think it's going to be a mixed thing.
I think it will be remembered fondly as the team
that got them back to the Alcs and got within
a game of the World Series. But I think ultimately
it will be remembered. You know, cal Cal himself said
it a failure. You know, it's a harsh word, and
you could be a you could be a success and
(14:40):
a failure.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
This is this team was.
Speaker 4 (14:43):
Successful in a lot of ways, but in the end
it was a failure because they didn't when they were
so close and had it in their grass, they let
it slip away.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
So I think.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
That that dual reality will be how this team is remembered.
But but probably more towards the the Springer home run, Well,
it'll be painful. I think more than anything, it'll be
a painful memory of a season that had, up until
the seventh inning had been you know, joyous and memorable
and all those positive things.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Well, you said it perfectly at the top when you
said that we all allowed ourselves to actually start believing
that this was going to happen, and they ripped it away.
And my wife told me last night when I got
home from you know, Jimmy, she said, you know what,
I wish we were the Brewers. I wish we'd just
got our ass kicked in four consecutive games, because that
would have been way less painful than this.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
You agree with that, Yes, I've thought that in the past.
Sometimes it hurts more to almost get there and have
you know, which technically is a more successful season. But
you know, like you said, when when you get your
butt kicked, or you don't even get that far, like
say they've lost to Detroit or something like that, I
(15:55):
think that would have been less painful than this than
to have the have it just just over the horizon.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
But you can't get there.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
No doubt. Larry Listen Man love having you on this
entire baseball season. Couldn't have done it without you. And
next time we need a professional therapist. To talk us
through life's painful moments. We will definitely be turning to you.
All right, so stand by.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
I'll go half priced for you, guys. Done your usual rate?
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Yeah, Larry, we love you. We'll talk somebody, okay, all right,
thanks guys. All right, Larry Stone with us on the air.
We got like a minute left. Was it a failure?
You agree with cal Rawley.
Speaker 5 (16:37):
Oh, I think the series was a failure, no question.
The ending was a failure. I don't think the season
was a failure. Yes, it certainly. It certainly ends a
big flop and and really things that could have been prevented.
That's what makes me sewing right.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Yeah, Jackson successful year for me, and I think that
a lot of that is based on the everything that
came before last night. Yeah, I think, as Larry said,
both of those truths can exist. I think it was
the greatest season in Mariner baseball history. You came with
an eight out of the World Series, you got as
far as you ever went. But it also left me
(17:13):
with the greatest disappointments I've ever had in my life
as a baseball fan. And the further you go, the
higher you climb, the harder you fall. And this was
the highest climb and it was the hardest fall I've
ever felt as a sports fan in anything, Super Bowls, Huskies, basketball, baseball, whatever.
(17:33):
So we'll see you know again. Like we said earlier,
what are we supposed to now? We just keep waiting, man,
Just keep waiting and come back again next year because
there's nothing else to do. We'll get out of here
cracking Capital's pregame Mike Benton's Got You Next on ninety
three to three KJRFM.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.