Relief. Elation. Hope.
It is not hyperbolic to say that the Mariners ending their 21-year playoff drought means everything to their fans.
For so many, their fandom is all they can remember. It’s been a building block for meaningful relationships and a thread that connects multiple generations.
For others, this will be their first taste of postseason baseball — and they cannot wait for all that entails and for more to come.
We heard from hundreds of fans, young and old, across multiple platforms and appreciated the time and thought each person put into their responses. While we wish we could have shared all of them, here are some of our favorites. Some have been edited for length.
Didn’t get a chance to submit your thoughts? Share them with us in the comment section.
As a born & raised Seattleite who has now lived in Portland, Oregon for 41 years, I have many feelings. Foremost the regret that I cannot just pop into T-Mobile on a nice Summer evening or when a favorite team comes to town. I was taken to my first baseball game in 1947 in a wicker basket when I was 3 months old. My mother was the BIGGEST baseball fan and we watched their games together until she passed at age 101 in 2018 … In April as my excitement about the season built, I told my Realtor partner that this is “THE YEAR” based on the promise of 2021. … I’m in my ’70’s, a widow and counting my pennies. Like Dave Sims suggested, I have cried Happy Tears multiple times throughout the weekend. — Peggy Marcum
I have been a Mariners fan since 1997 ever since I moved to PNW after college. I immediately fell in love with the then-dangerous lineup with A-rod, the Kid, Gar and the Bone. Then the magical 2001 season got me more hooked. … I went back to Japan in 2005 and continued to subscribe to the MLB and kept following the Mariners. When I came back to PNW in 2013, I was shocked to see Seattle was a football town but rightfully so. I kept going to the games in down time and was a big fan of Cano signing and later Cruz as well. Had lots of emotional roller coasters back then because of high expectations. … I wanted to go to Friday’s game but ended up watching at home pitch by pitch. I cried a day before thinking about the playoff and cried even more when Cal hit the walk off home run. I still have tears when watching the digest now. We are in a great shape building sustainable team for long time and am excited to see how this team with great pitching, defense and occasional home run will play in October playoff. — Koichi Hirao
My love of the Mariners started when I was 10 and Ken Griffey, Jr., broke into the bigs. … When I saw Junior play, I knew the Mariners were my team. When I was a junior in high school, I wrote for a newspaper called the Mirror, which was published by the Seattle Times. I got to interview Alex Rodriguez in early May 1995 when he was called up for a homestand against the White Sox. We sat in the home dugout to interview A-Rod but before he came to talk to us, we watched the legends take BP – Junior, Edgar, Buhner. It was magic for me as a 16-year-old diehard fan who dreamt of being a sportswriter when I grew up. Little more than a year later, I went on one of my first dates to the King Dome to watch the Ms with a boy who is now my husband of 22 years. For years, we have gone to Mariners games the weekend of our anniversary because that’s my idea of a romantic date. When Junior retired in 2010, his career spanned from the summer between fourth and fifth grade to shortly before my older daughter’s first birthday. I grew up with the Mariners, fell in love at Mariners games, renewed my marriage over and over again with the Mariners, have raised my kids watching at home and going to games in person, and the last game we were able to go to was on Father’s Day with my husband, our daughters, his brother and sister-in-law, his parents and his 92-year-old grandmother. The Mariners are love, family, and the Northwest. I’ve never given up hope they would end this drought. I stepped out of the room just before Cal hit the home run. I ran back into the room and tackled my husband, on the verge of tears. This is everything. Everything. Patience rewarded. My oh my. — Kris Hill
Hell has frozen over. — Orin O’Neill
Having the M’s back in the playoffs reminds me so very much of my dad. He was a lifelong Cleveland Indians fan as we were originally from Ohio and transplanted to Seattle in the early ‘70’s. He was so happy when MLB came to Seattle he made a big deal of taking my younger brother and I to the M’s inaugural games. He happily switched his allegiance to our M’s, ingrained baseball into our lives, and off we were on this 46-year adventure. We bounced around a near-empty Kingdome on cheap outfield bleacher seat tickets in the 80’s and early 90’s. You could basically sit wherever you wanted then. Eventually we graduated to 20-game season tickets and used that access to get our ‘95 playoff ticket. I was one of the miscreants who stormed the field and took a handful of dirt from the pitching mound after the elimination game against California (Rizz with the “Everybody scores!” call on Sojo’s double!). I still have that vial of dirt. We cried tears of joy after Edgar’s double, and tears of sadness after their loss to Cleveland; ironically my father’s former fav team. We bucked up for full season tickets in ‘96 and thus have attended every M’s home playoff game. When we moved over to Safeco Field we attended every home game in 2001. … What a great year that was! Alas those happy days wouldn’t last. We gave up our seats after the 2001 season and I have only attended a handful of games since, including taking my dad to one last game before cancer took him in 2010. I’ve seen the M’s go from obscurity to scrappy underdog to profit taking/crap teams mode to rebuild to hopefully is the start of a new championship era. I will be thinking about my dad a lot watching this next playoff run. Sure wish he could see this. — Eric Chapman
For 35 years I’ve been purchasing season tickets where I have seen the good, the bad and the ugly and when just about everyone else along the way bailed out for various reasons I didn’t … When I was given my allotment of tickets for 2022 way back at the end of March before the season started, I had no inclination that the game against the Oakland A’s on Friday, September 30th would be the one which would finally terminate The Streak and some might say well of all the dumb luck and perhaps so, but what I like to think is that it was meant to be for all those years of suffering and sticking with it when others gave up and it’s life experiences like this where Thomas Paine’s words from his pamphlet appropriately entitled “The Crisis” glaringly stand out: “The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.” So true and last night’s walk off win is about as glorious as it gets even if it did take 21 years. Go Mariners! — David R Rumbaugh
My 80 year old dad has Stage 4 cancer. He’s lived in the State of Washington for his entire life. He went to the VERY FIRST Mariners home game in 1977. Thank you, Seattle Mariners, for bringing joy to my father’s remaining days. He’s a HUGE fan of baseball and the team making it into the playoffs comes at a good time for my family!! Go Mariners!!!! — Cathy Woolman-Dickson
I’m not sure I can adequately express what a 21 year drought feels like. The last time the Mariners made the playoffs in 2001, I was 9 years old. To think I’ve lived through two decades of them not being back in the playoffs is insane, but just as insane is the happiness I feel knowing we’re back where we should be! … I was on a plane getting text messages when they told me Cal hit the walk off and I started yelling on the plane! I think people thought there was something severely wrong going on, but I stood up and “quietly” yelled, “The Mariners just made the playoffs!!!” I don’t think I could stop shaking. Then on the light rail home, as I passed the Stadium stop, a flood of people got on and started yelling and clapping and we reminisced about the long arduous road to get to this point. Long time T-Mobile staffers, new fans, old fans. There was something special in the air. — Joshua Chessin-Yudin
I felt a mixture of relief, sadness, anger, & elation. To be honest, the stretch of incompetence & mismanagement by a collection of bozos, clowns & fools in the front office/field operation over the past 21 years has diminished my emotional connection to the Mariners, and I am angry about that. In a sense, I have been robbed of the normal “faith” a fan should have, thinking his team is doing everything it can to succeed. … I have gotten emotional re-watching the Raleigh home run today. — Rod Guevara
It breathes life into the city, it gives the younger generation something to look forward to and shows that even the underdog can come out on top. To me it means everything, over the years I went through some dark times and dealt with depression, but the Mariners and Baseball helped me through those times, so finally seeing their hard work pay off is truly special and something I hold close to heart. — Levi Kelly
My grandpa was a true to the blue Mariners fan who passed away 7 years ago this weekend. He was a loyal season ticket holder through all the years it was easy to give up on the organization. It is because of him that I love the Mariners and have waited with so much anticipation for this moment. I cannot help but think how excited he would be to see this drought to finally end. — Marissa R.
I have loved the M’s since day one. … I was so excited in 1976 when we finally got a MLB team of our own. At that time the Mariners offered 2 free tickets to several games to students with a GPA of 3.0 or above. I was so looking forward to taking my parents. That January my father unexpectedly died, and about 17 days later, my grandmother (mothers side) passed. Needless to say, life was difficult for my mother and I. When baseball season came around I didn’t think we would go, we went to every single free game. We sat in the 200 section, having a blast, screaming our lungs out for Rupert Jones. The M’s were an escape, a respite from reality. It was also one thing (I believe) that saved my relationship with my mom. It was a time for us to bond, and for her not to be the mother of an unmanageable teen. When I got married and had my own family, baseball was part of our lives, and mom joined us for many games at the park. … Yes, I love baseball, but more importantly, I love this team. My family and 90 year old mom will be having a blast, screaming from wherever we are, cheering our M’s. I would love to see this team make not only the postseason, but to the series. I’ve been waiting 46 years for this, and I believe if anyone can do it, they can. — Mary Johnston
Like most fans I will feel a sense of relief and joy when the M’s finally get back to the playoffs. I will also feel less guilty and less of a jinx from the past 21 years. You see, I attended 8 home games in 2001 and one playoff game and the M’s lost ALL of them (the odds of that happening when they lost just 46 games are unreal!). I have attended 10 home games and one game in Anaheim this season and while my record of 4-7 is hardly one to be proud of, my guilt has been assuaged! My favourite memory as a fan was in 2000 when Carlos Guillen won the White Sox playoff series with a suicide squeeze bunt in the bottom of the ninth. I happened to be listening to the game in my classroom of sixth graders (I was a popular teacher that day) otherwise I could have been in T-Mobile (Safeco) that afternoon and Carlos would have missed the ball and the M’s would have lost in extra innings! I am afraid of ordering playoff tickets this year, so for the Mariners’ sake and my fellow fans’ sake I will refrain and enjoy the playoffs on television! You are all welcome, and Go Mariners! — David Wallace
I have been a Mariners fan my whole life, and was in Kindergarten in 2001 when they last made it to the playoffs. Now I am 26 and of all the things that have changed in Seattle, the Mariners playoff drought has stayed consistent. It has never been about those losses though, this team has given me so much joy through the years, and each generation of new heroes has inspired me to love the city and the Mariners even more. Ichiro taught me focus, Felix taught me how to bounce back, Edgar taught me how to work hard, and most recently Geno and Julio and J.P. have taught us all that it is ok to show emotion and have fun with the people you love. I want to see them go far and succeed, but I also want them to know that for us “long-suffering” fans, they do enough by just showing up and being the best versions of themselves. — John Lyon
I remember being four years old in 2001, riding shotgun in my dad’s rusted up Toyota Tercel on the way home from T-ball, listening to Dave Niehaus on the radio. We’d park out front of our house in Moscow, Idaho, wait until the ad break, run inside, turn on the TV and scoop up some mint chocolate chip ice cream. Watching Edgar Martinez rake homers and do his endearing run around the bases was the most magical thing in the world… Until Friday night when Cal Raleigh did the exact same thing. — Ellen Dennis
I will feel overjoyed when the Mariners end the playoff drought. I was 9 years old in 2001, and my enduring memory of that season was watching on TV as the Mariners lost the ALCS to the Yankees in New York. My fandom was just starting at the time, and of course I thought they’d be back to the playoffs in no time. I loved that core group of players with Ichiro, Edgar, Cameron, and Boone. 93 wins should have been enough to go to the postseason in 2002 and 2003, but alas. I was at the park for Game 161 in 2014, cheering as Austin Jackson beat out a fielder’s choice to walk off the Angels. I remember tearing up the next day as Felix walked off the mound to a standing ovation from the home crowd, the Athletics having defeated the Rangers minutes before and clinching the final wild card spot. I was also there for Game 161 in 2016, when Cruz and Cano hit clutch home runs but the M’s lost to the A’s in an extra innings heartbreaker. … Seattle is a baseball town, and this will be evident in the next month and years to come. Go Mariners! — Jared Wright
Everytime I think about the Mariners making the playoffs and how it brings hope and all that, my thoughts just settle on my Dad. I used to listen to the radio broadcast while holding a flashlight for some house project, or – as I got older, holding the drywall in place for some other, somehow different house project. He made me a mariners fan. I don’t know if he always thought that was good, because ten-year old me used to take losses hard. I was 10 years old in 1995 though, and ten-year old me thought the playoffs were an every year thing. By 2001, I was so used to the idea and when they lost to the Yankees in the ALCS I was honestly shocked. I didn’t know how hard it was going to get. … I hope they make the playoffs for him. — Abe Conrad
I’ve always felt I was born a Mariners fan, and really can’t remember a time before that. My childhood was spent gathered with my family around the tv as we watched our team play, night after night, my birthday always representing the start of a new season. Little did I know at age six as I watched the Mariners make 116-win history, that it would be 20 years before I would get to see my team make it to the playoffs again. Nevertheless, thus commenced the last 20 years: a lot of long seasons, some I followed closely, others I let slip by, as we all sat by and waited, and waited, for our next chance to come. When I moved to Boston in 2017 to start my PhD, the Mariners took on a new meaning for me. They were a connection to home that I had no idea I needed, and they got me through some tough years of being far from home. I listened to the game on the radio, Rizz being the soundtrack to late nights in the lab late and long walks home from school. And each year I caught every game of the yearly Mariners/Red Sox series. The Mariners are finally headed back to the playoffs, the 2022 team being a team I didn’t know I could love as much as I do, and I am savoring every single day of it. However far we go, I’ll always be grateful for this season, and grateful for this team, that has been a friend to me since my first year of life; and a home to me every year since. And so that’s what the Mariners mean to me: they mean home. — Sarah Clark-Drake
I’ve been going to M’s games since season one. I was at the first playoff game and the last playoff game. During those years I’ve seen good teams and bad teams but there is nothing like the excitement around a playoff team. This year is special because I’ll get to go to these games with my dad and to be honest next year he probably won’t remember going to these games, but I’ll always have the memories. — Norrie Walker
The Mariners. The magic. Last night’s win clinching the Mariners a playoff a spot. It reminds me of Dr. Seuss’s “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” Not that we stole the playoffs, but how we got there. It came with injured all star players. It came with suspensions. It came with sore thumbs and broken fingers. But it came all the same. It came because this team has heart. It came because every player plays a part. My heart grew three sizes just watching them play. Go Mariners! — Linda Dodge
I don’t know what I’m feeling. Over the years I went from the high expectations of making the playoffs each year, to hoping for a winning record each season, to hoping for just quality baseball. Looking back though there was a constant. A constant that what I really wanted, and generally had, was a team with players that I liked. A team with players that I felt attached to. A team with players that I was proud to call my own. … For years, what I dreamed of was for my team to go the World Series. As I grew to care more about the players than the results though, I’ve realized that my dream has changed. The dream is that they, the players, get to go to the World Series. I want it for them. — Rob Lodermeier
Every time I hear that this is going to be the year, I get chills. It is hard to put into words exactly how I would feel, but I know that I would be excited, insanely happy, very emotional, and proud. I have been a Mariners fan since before I could truly decide who I was going to cheer for. My grandpa threw out the first pitch at a Mariners game when I was just a few days old. My parents are huge fans of baseball, especially the Mariners. They were there to watch the 1995 series while pregnant with me, and made a bet with a friend, who was also pregnant, that they would name their child Edgar if the Mariners won. The Mariners did win, but neither of us was named Edgar. Maybe this year I will change my name if they continue to win. I could be a good Edgar. When I was finally old enough to grasp the concept of baseball, I got to share the love of the game with my grandpa. From watching games on the tv, to talking stats, to learning how to keep score, and my favorite, listening to the games on the radio. I got to learn about his love for the game, which in turn, transferred to me and my love of the game. I have loved them since, and I was 5 in 2001, so now being 26, I am so excited to get a chance to really witness this magical time. — Emma Maier
When my family would play baseball in our WA backyard growing up, I would always adjust my sleeve before hitting because I wanted to be like Ichiro. Now I’m grown up and living in Los Angeles, but I couldn’t be prouder to hail from Seattle and support the best team ever. The Mariners’ fan base is so special to be a part of – we love our team no matter their successes or failures, and we’ll be behind them til the end. I start tearing up just thinking about them making the playoffs, so I know I’ll be an emotional wreck when they do it! — Anna
This team! Geno and Hanny and Julio and Swaggerty and JP and Los Bomberos! … These guys are guests in my home and they are the best guests. And now, hopefully, they will be my guests in October. — Tawni Stetson
It would mean sharing something with my kids that I experienced in 1995. I skipped school in the 9th grade to go to the 1-game playoff against the Angels. A local news crew interviewed me and I ended up on TV. My English teacher, Terry Johnson, saw it and gave me 5 point extra credit. My kids (11, 12, and 13) have grown to love baseball. … We have enjoyed this season immensely already. — Jesse McFarland
I was born in June of 2001, which means that (1) I have never experienced a Mariners playoff game (my family was living abroad at the time) and (2) whenever they do clinch, I’ll be celebrating with a beer in hand, because that’s what happens when your postseason drought reaches the legal drinking age. Since the Mariners last made the playoffs, I’ve learned to walk, then to talk, then finished pre-school, elementary school, middle school, and high school. I moved to the east coast for college, and then moved back to Seattle this spring after graduation. I was four months old when the Mariners last played a playoff game. I now have a full-time job and my own Season Ticket account. … For people like me, who have stubbornly stuck with this team for their entire life despite season after season of falling short, who have dreamed of playoff baseball in Seattle (or even playoff baseball involving Seattle!) for years but never witnessed it, making the postseason means *everything*. I can’t wait. — Alex R.
The Mariners making the post season means everything to me. I met my wife in 2015. Every year I go to opening day and I’m excited for baseball. Every single year she says to me “Why do you do this to yourself?” I tell her, baseball is life. — Andy Lapic
My nephew passed in 2009, but when we clinch, it’s him I’ll be thinking about. We loved these M’s through all the lean years. It will be difficult to say how much that moment will mean until it finally arrives. — Shawn Inmon
My two sons and I went to the 3 Yankee playoff games in 1995 and it was baseball magic … With my sons grown up, I now have 2022 playoff tickets with them and my grandchildren…ready to make more baseball magic with a new generation. This is not just about breaking the playoff drought, it’s about sharing all the excitement (highs and lows) and having the chance to pass along our baseball passion to the grandkids…a very special experience indeed. — Mitch W.
I will actually cry tears of joy. Being a Mariner fan and growing up in the Pacific Northwest is just part of who you are. Like your arms are attached to you, so are the Mariners. — Jeffrey Pulliam
The last time the Mariners made the postseason, I was a senior in college. A lot has changed since then, but my devotion to the team has not. My 8-year old son asked me the other night why I love the Mariners so much if they make me so frustrated, depressed, angry and happy all at once. I told him because they are my team, and no matter what they do, I will always wear their hat and jersey, and root for them. I will always believe that one day, it will happen, and they will win the World Series. Now, on the cusp of a playoff appearance two decades in the making, he can watch the games with me, experience the highs and lows and the excitement of postseason baseball, and maybe he too will fall in love with the team like I did when I was his age. My father, who gave me his love of baseball and the Mariners, passed away last October. Every season he believed could be the year the drought would end and the World Series was a possibility. While I am sad he won’t be with me to experience the M’s postseason run, I know he will be watching as my son and I hang on every pitch. — Randy Policar
My dad has been a faithful Mariners fan for decades and has made my son, his grandson one as well. If our favorite team makes it to the playoffs this year, it would give us the boost we need as we mourn the unexpected death of my dad this week. I’m devastated that he wouldn’t be here to watch, but in some small way it feels like maybe his spirit somehow helped it happen to bring comfort to all of his family and fellow baseball enthusiast friends who took annual trips to spring training together. — Tiffany Acker
My daughter was born during the ‘97 World Series and ever since, she’s been my baseball buddy—a bonding experience like no other, especially once we moved to the PNW. We attended games in the King’s Court and the Maple Grove—we’ve cheered for Kuma and Kyle. We’ve delighted in the rise of an extraordinary young man named Julio, longed to see Jarred fulfill his potential, and applauded JP as he grew into his role as “Cap.” As dreadful as the past couple of years have been due to the pandemic, an unexpected benefit came from been having my daughter home for the past couple of years. We’ve taken advantage by attending as many games as possible and watching/listening to all others. Baseball has been our salvation during some incredibly difficult times—to watch this team we love so much make the post-season and potentially go further will feel, to us, like the most beautiful full-circle moment. — Barb Pollak