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Holy smokes, friends. It’s the last FanPost Friday of the 2021 regular season. I really did not intend for the last 5 weeks to carry on this continued BELIEF CHECK polling. But, what started off as a last-minute idea for a FanPost Friday prompt ended up being a pretty compelling way to track the pulse of the LL community through the ups and downs of the final stretch of the season. It’s been wild to see the belief levels see-saw after good weeks and weeks, and suddenly, this is it! Three games to decide the fate of these Seattle Mariners. I’ve given up trying protect any part of me from the eventual heartbreak. I woke up Thursday morning and I just gave in to all the feelings, all the excitement, and embraced believing in these players.
So I'd been guarding a little tiny part of my black heart & I just can't anymore. Fuck it, take my heart, do what you will, baseball. The investment is worth it. Believing in these players is worth it, no matter the outcome. There is heartbreak ahead but there is also so much joy
— Eric Sanford (@sanford_and_son) September 30, 2021
By the way, I was shocked by how much interaction my lil’ Mariners feelings thread got on Twitter, but it affirms that many fans have been in the same boat. And what happened last night? The Orioles beat the Red Sox and now the Mariners are tied for a Wild Card spot. Just an incredible turn of events.
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Speaking of BELIEF CHECKS, the Mariners marketing department deftly grabbed onto the zeitgeist by pushing the BELIEVE signs from the show Ted Lasso. It’s totally unrelated to my lil’ hamfisted corner of the internet, but I do love how the theme dovetails together. And while it’s always a bit lazy and perilous to latch onto someone else’s intellectual property (a show, a movie, a book, etc) to push your own narrative, I don’t mind it. It works. Scott Servais quoted Ted Lasso a couple weeks back in a post-game presser and it has caught on from there. The players have latched onto it and so have the fans, and that’s all that matters.
Let’s take a look at last week’s poll.
W O W!
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The pendulum swung extremely hard back into the direction of optimism after the previous week and it just feels right. A four-game sweep that essentially ended Oakland’s season and a series win over the Angels, including beating Shohei Ohtani in Anaheim, will do that!
Without further ado, let’s do this poll. For the last time this REGULAR SEASON (hedge hedge), let’s hear it, folks. BELIEF CHECK TIME!
Poll
After the last week of games, how are you feeling about the playoff chances of these Seattle Mariners?
This poll is closed
-
85%
NO ONE BELIEVES IN US, LET’S GOOOOO!!!! AHHHHHH!!!!!!
(676 votes) -
9%
My interest is extremely piqued, but I remain very skeptical
(77 votes) -
1%
Haha, come on now.....unless???
(15 votes) -
1%
Absolutely not.
(8 votes) -
2%
hey man, let’s just see what happens, okay? lots of moving parts, lots of ins and outs, new shit has come to light, okay man?
(19 votes)
If you’re able and feel safe doing so, I hope you’ll join me and many other LL staffers in making at least one more visit to T-Mobile Park to cheer on this team that just refuses to roll over and die. They’ve earned it and we fans deserve one more good time at the ballpark before the cold darkness takes over. Go Mariners.