Latest / The Ian Furness Show / Ian Furness 9/14 H2: It's time to Mollywhop with Chris Crawford & Nathan Bishop. Are the Mariners "unlikeable?"

Transcript

Ian Furness 9/14 H2: It's time to Mollywhop with Chris Crawford & Nathan Bishop. Are the Mariners "unlikeable?" · The Ian Furness Show

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: It's Monday, and that means one thing. It's time to mollywop. Uncensored, unscripted,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: and filled with the passion that all Mariners fans can
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: relate to. And brought to you by the company that's
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: all about Seattle sports. Simply Seattle. Visit simplyseattle.com for the
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: best Mariners gear. Now with the mollywop boys, Nathan Bishop
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: and Chris Crawford. With my O-Y, here's Ian Furness.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Cortez with first base open.
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: Brown ball and it takes off the glove and Young
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: can't get to it.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: This game is tied. Highlight courtesy of MLB TV, Mariners TV.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: Molly Watt Monday brought to you by our friends at
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: Simply Seattle, simplyseattle.com. Probably now you're thinking about your Seahawks
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: gear at simplyseattle.com or your college gear as well. Although
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: I don't think Husky fans are all too happy today either.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: So let's just talk Seahawks gear and all the Sonics
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: retro gear, all they have there at Simply Seattle, simplyseattle.com,
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: mollywatt15 at checkout. Nathan Bishop, Christopher Crawford, a.k.a. on our
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: Zoom call today. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Carolina Panthers
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: defensive coordinator 69. Yeah, there you go. They only gave
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: up 59, buddy. Not 69, 59.
• 1:28
  Speaker 4: I thought I did a great job, and I think
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: that's the fact that I was able to hold.
• 1:33
  Speaker 5: Them under 60, knowing.
• 1:36
  Speaker 4: That he's going to be really tired the next few weeks.
• 1:38
  Speaker 4: Caleb Williams has run so much that he's just not
• 1:41
  Speaker 4: going to have it. I think the rest of the
• 1:43
  Speaker 4: world should be thanking me, but no, apparently 59 points
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: in the opener is a bad thing.
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: That's what I hear. I heard it's not good. By
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: the way, fellas... Welcome Ashley Ryan to the show. She
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: is now with us.
• 1:55
  Speaker 6: Sorry in advance, Ashley. That's all right.
• 1:57
  Speaker 7: I'm not going to let your negativity rub off on me.
• 2:00
  Speaker 5: I've got it building on its own. Just keep in mind.
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: If Cortland Sutton scores negative 30 points this week, you
• 2:06
  Speaker 4: still lose by a point.
• 2:06
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I know.
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: I know. Oh, that's right. You guys are in the
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: same fantasy league now. Chris is in our fantasy league. Yeah,
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: and he's kicking my butt.
• 2:12
  Speaker 5: Uh-oh.
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: Uh-oh.
• 2:13
  Speaker 6: Okay.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: All right. Well, listen, Ashley, I know you've... Working the
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: morning show for all those years, you've probably never heard
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: of this show before. It's called Molly Watt Monday. Yeah, no,
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: brand new. It's brand new for me. Brand new show.
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: No one's really heard of it. I know the morning
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: show for years really... Never really talked about this show
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: or got antagonized by them. I don't know what you mean.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: This is a safe space, Ash. You can say what
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: you want here. You can say what you want. And
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: away we go. A lot to get to today on
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: a Molly Watt Monday brought to you by SimplySale. SimplySale.com.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: Before we get to that stuff, let's get to the
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: fun stuff first. Chris, how was your week last week?
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: You went to a Marriott game in the Diamond Club
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: and a Seahawks game in the club level. Are you
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: kidding me?
• 2:51
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: People are going to think that I actually make money
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: when we say something like that. Let me be abundantly
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: clear that we can thank Little Creek Casino for everything
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: that happened there.
• 3:01
  Speaker 5: If they want to sponsor the show, by the way,
• 3:03
  Speaker 5: let me know. It was a blast.
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: I mean, the Diamond Club was one of the coolest
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: things that I've ever done. To be able to see
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: the game from that close, I can't confirm that big
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: dumper is big. I can't confirm it after staring at
• 3:18
  Speaker 4: that for a little while. And then the Seahawk game,
• 3:21
  Speaker 4: that was my first game in Seattle, Washington since 2004.
• 3:24
  Speaker 5: Wow.
• 3:24
  Speaker 4: And I just had a blast and it was fun
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: to pretend to be, uh, among the, uh, among the uppers, but, uh, boy.
• 3:32
  Speaker 5: It's fun.
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: And it's just a great example of how great Seattle
• 3:35
  Speaker 4: sports can be.
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: Uh, Nathan, how was your, your week? You went all
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: over the place.
• 3:39
  Speaker 6: Oh, let me tell you, man, I was so far
• 3:42
  Speaker 6: away from the Seattle Mariners, both mentally and geographically that
• 3:45
  Speaker 6: I had just the best weekend you could possibly have.
• 3:48
  Speaker 6: I got a duck over to the The Windy City
• 3:50
  Speaker 6: for a couple days with my boy who's headed to college,
• 3:53
  Speaker 6: and we got to go see a first-place team in
• 3:55
  Speaker 6: the Chicago White Sox at Rayfield, and the next day
• 3:57
  Speaker 6: we followed it up with probably the best lineup in
• 4:00
  Speaker 6: baseball in the Chicago Cubs as they destroyed the Pittsburgh Pirates.
• 4:03
  Speaker 6: It was idyllic and gorgeous and beautiful, and like I said,
• 4:06
  Speaker 6: absolutely nowhere near the Seattle Mariners. Strong endorse. If you
• 4:10
  Speaker 6: can get away from the Mariners, you should do it.
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: Let's get to our opening thoughts. As always, the Mariners...
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: They had a week. They had something of a week
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: that finishes off losing two of three to the A's,
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: including walk-off fashion both Friday and Sunday. Sunday really stung
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: because you had a pretty big lead. You're five out,
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: 12 to go, and the Rangers are closing in. You're
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: basically five out of them as well because they've got
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: the tiebreaker on you as we head down the home stretch. Nathan,
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: opening thoughts.
• 4:45
  Speaker 6: Well, I the season's basically over and we've been talking
• 4:49
  Speaker 6: about this for a couple of weeks now. I mean,
• 4:51
  Speaker 6: it's going to come down to the division. If they
• 4:53
  Speaker 6: had taken care of business against an absolutely wretched, I
• 4:56
  Speaker 6: think I texted the group chat yesterday, maybe that this,
• 5:00
  Speaker 6: this A's staff is, is maybe the worst staff I've
• 5:02
  Speaker 6: ever seen. It's just, and putting them in that moon
• 5:06
  Speaker 6: ball of a ballpark in Sacramento is just even worse.
• 5:10
  Speaker 6: I mean, there's no way that team can do anything
• 5:12
  Speaker 6: but give up runs and, If the Mariners had just
• 5:15
  Speaker 6: taken care of business against them, and I don't even
• 5:17
  Speaker 6: mean sweeping, I mean going like four and three against
• 5:20
  Speaker 6: them in the last two series they've had, they'd be
• 5:21
  Speaker 6: three games out with a real chance to do some
• 5:24
  Speaker 6: damage because in essence that would be two games out
• 5:26
  Speaker 6: with the tiebreaker in Houston. And they tripped all over
• 5:29
  Speaker 6: themselves in the way that they've done it all year.
• 5:32
  Speaker 6: And that's just by not executing at high leverage moments
• 5:34
  Speaker 6: and not figuring out ways to win. And with the
• 5:36
  Speaker 6: season going down the crapper now, I was trying to
• 5:39
  Speaker 6: think of a new way to think about this. And
• 5:40
  Speaker 6: maybe it's not new, but it's not the way that
• 5:42
  Speaker 6: we've been talking about this team all year, which is
• 5:45
  Speaker 6: that Dan and primarily that Dan's been failing the team.
• 5:48
  Speaker 6: And I think that we're at a point now where
• 5:51
  Speaker 6: Most people agree he will not be the manager in 2027,
• 5:54
  Speaker 6: whatever mechanism they want to call it, whether it's firing
• 5:57
  Speaker 6: or it's the Kevin Mather, thank you for your service,
• 5:59
  Speaker 6: we no longer want you award. But I was thinking
• 6:03
  Speaker 6: about in the more long-term and this modern era of
• 6:06
  Speaker 6: Mariners baseball, about what an outlier 2025 is really feeling.
• 6:11
  Speaker 6: Because you remember way back when this rebuild started, one
• 6:15
  Speaker 6: of the things that this franchise talked about was that
• 6:18
  Speaker 6: they were going to time their ascent to when their
• 6:21
  Speaker 6: ascendant powers, which is primarily the Houston Astros, came back
• 6:25
  Speaker 6: to Earth. And that was the idea, that the Mariners
• 6:27
  Speaker 6: were going to get great right when the Houston Astros
• 6:29
  Speaker 6: got bad, or at least stopped being the best baseball
• 6:32
  Speaker 6: team in the world. And after 2022, that happened with
• 6:36
  Speaker 6: the Houston Astros. They stopped being the best baseball team
• 6:38
  Speaker 6: in the world. If you think that the division winner
• 6:41
  Speaker 6: this year in the AL West is going to win
• 6:43
  Speaker 6: something like 82 games, since 2022, the AL West division
• 6:45
  Speaker 6: champ will have averaged 87 wins. That's an extremely modest number,
• 6:53
  Speaker 6: especially for a non-central division in Major League Baseball. And
• 6:57
  Speaker 6: the Mariners will have leveraged that in an era with
• 7:00
  Speaker 6: three wildcard spots into one playoff appearance. And this predates
• 7:06
  Speaker 6: Dan Wilson. And I think that I hated the concept
• 7:10
  Speaker 6: of not trying to beat a great team when the
• 7:12
  Speaker 6: Astros were amazing and winning 105 plus games. I hated
• 7:15
  Speaker 6: that idea of like, we're just going to wait them out.
• 7:18
  Speaker 6: But then for them to be kind of right about
• 7:20
  Speaker 6: it and then fail to execute what I think was
• 7:22
  Speaker 6: a cowardly plan, I just want to remind people that
• 7:26
  Speaker 6: as frustrated as we are with Dan and as frustrated
• 7:28
  Speaker 6: as we are with this season, the failures go so
• 7:31
  Speaker 6: much higher than that. This is such a failure of
• 7:33
  Speaker 6: both vision and execution at the very highest level. And
• 7:37
  Speaker 6: I think that if this franchise ever wants to be
• 7:40
  Speaker 6: more than this, where they're maybe making the playoffs once
• 7:44
  Speaker 6: or twice every four or five years in kind of
• 7:47
  Speaker 6: meandering fashion when 40% of the league makes the playoffs.
• 7:50
  Speaker 6: If you want to stop being like the Carolina Panthers
• 7:53
  Speaker 6: or the Tennessee Titans of Major League Baseball, you've got
• 7:56
  Speaker 6: to dream bigger. You've got to demand better. You have
• 7:58
  Speaker 6: to expect more. You have to set a higher standard
• 8:02
  Speaker 6: than anybody has ever set here before. This franchise has
• 8:05
  Speaker 6: spent 50 years without setting a high standard for itself.
• 8:09
  Speaker 6: And it's just time for it to change. It has
• 8:11
  Speaker 6: to change after this year.
• 8:12
  Speaker 5: Chris.
• 8:15
  Speaker 4: So, I mean, there's so many what ifs that you
• 8:21
  Speaker 4: can do with this season. Like you can play the
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: what if game. What if Andres Munoz blows five saves
• 8:26
  Speaker 4: instead of 10? What if Cal Raleigh is fully healthy?
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: What if Julio would have had second half Julio? What
• 8:33
  Speaker 4: if Brendan Donovan would have stayed healthy? But I think
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: that's dangerous to do because I think that kind of
• 8:39
  Speaker 4: lets them off the hook too much that this was
• 8:41
  Speaker 4: just a bad baseball team. This was a poorly constructed roster.
• 8:45
  Speaker 4: This was a team that didn't do enough to try
• 8:47
  Speaker 4: to get better during the season, barely did anything. And
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: Taylor Ward has been borderline a disaster since being required.
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: I know there's a Price is Right chart that we
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: can look at a little later with Mr.
• 9:00
  Speaker 5: Ward, but it's just.
• 9:03
  Speaker 4: I'm struggling to get disappointed by it because of what
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: I said last week that I just haven't enjoyed watching
• 9:09
  Speaker 4: this team all year. There has been a dislike ability
• 9:12
  Speaker 4: about this team and anyone who's still enjoying it, by
• 9:16
  Speaker 4: the way, more power to you.
• 9:18
  Speaker 5: And that's great. That is awesome.
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: Like you can still have awesome individual moments. Saturday was
• 9:23
  Speaker 4: one of those individual awesome, awesome moments. That was really
• 9:26
  Speaker 4: fun to see. It's crazy to think that they, uh,
• 9:29
  Speaker 4: have won a game by 18 runs and lost a
• 9:31
  Speaker 4: couple of games by more than 18 runs in the
• 9:34
  Speaker 4: same season. I just haven't had a fun time Ian.
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: And maybe that's because of the demands that I had
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: at the beginning of the year. Maybe that's on me.
• 9:42
  Speaker 4: I don't think it's just me though, because I talked
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: to other people. My OI has been getting incredible view
• 9:48
  Speaker 4: counts lately. And I really appreciate that. And the comments
• 9:51
  Speaker 4: have all kind of said the same thing that we
• 9:53
  Speaker 4: just straight up are not having a good time watching
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: this baseball team.
• 9:57
  Speaker 5: And I think, Overall, that's the most disappointing.
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: Thing of all is that people aren't having fun watching
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: a baseball team that should have been a hell of
• 10:05
  Speaker 4: a lot of fun.
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: That's chris crawford nathan bishop monday brought to you by
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: simply seattle simply sell.com molly walk 15 at your checkout
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: for your discount code okay i'm glad you went down
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: that road for a second i i texted you guys
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: the other day it was i'd We've all been doing–
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: everyone not named Softie has been doing a fantasy football
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: draft in the last little while and getting together with
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: friends and whether group chats or in person, what have you.
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: We had one last week. I'm in a league that's
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: 50 years old, by the way, celebrating its 50th anniversary
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: this year. A lot of old ex-media guys and print
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: guys in town and some of their kids and so forth.
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: And I had three different people come up to me and– that,
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: that I respect greatly, uh, one X media and a
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: couple that, that grew up around the media as well.
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: And they said the same thing. They said, you know, we,
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: it's our favorite segment of the week. And it's not
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: because of the, you know, the perceived negativity of you
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: two guys. It's because if you're a fan, you want
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: honesty and you want, you want honesty. You don't want, Hey,
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: they just lost here. The fireworks, or here's the cookbook.
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: The wives are selling. That's not what they want. Um,
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: They want honesty and they want to know why and
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: why it went wrong. But one of the things that
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: jumped out at me, guys, and this has been kind
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: of an overriding theme from people all year that I've
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: talked to on and off the air, text at 49451 and,
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: you know, this show and after this show, we get
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: other texts or talking to people that you're just friends
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: with and sports fans. What you said, Chris, and I'm
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: still trying to figure out why to put a finger
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: on it. People are still passionate about this baseball team.
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: They're still passionate. They're passionately pissed off right now, but
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: they're passionate, which is a good thing. They haven't, you know,
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: now they're kind of tuning out. People are tuning out now.
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: A lot of people say, oh, they lost? What the hell?
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: I forgot they were even playing yesterday. But there's passion.
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: The unlikeability, the part that you mentioned, I hear a lot.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: I don't know if we can put a finger on
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: how or why, but how would you describe that? You're
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: doing a nightly podcast with people on YouTube. We do
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: this show every week. We hear from fans every day.
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: How would you describe that, Chris, and why is that?
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: Is it because they haven't met expectations?
• 12:15
  Speaker 5: I think it's a combination of a lot of things.
• 12:17
  Speaker 4: I think it's the fact that you were so close
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: to making the World Series last year, the fact that
• 12:23
  Speaker 4: you had so much. It was fun, and you can
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: just say, hey, maybe it was just fun because they
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: were winning, but I don't think so.
• 12:30
  Speaker 5: There was a likability to that team.
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: Julio's smile is infectious, whether you get frustrated by his
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: play or not.
• 12:37
  Speaker 5: That smile just hasn't been there this year. I have
• 12:39
  Speaker 5: not seen it. Cal Raleigh, I.
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: Think has gone to the most, I don't even know
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: what the word is, but he went from being a
• 12:49
  Speaker 4: guy who looked like he was having so much fun
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: out there to being someone who looked borderline militant, someone
• 12:56
  Speaker 4: who just looks like he is not interested in anything
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: but the results. And Hey, the results are what ends
• 13:01
  Speaker 4: up getting you paid. And the results are what made
• 13:03
  Speaker 4: him the runner up to the MVP last year. but
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: the process of him looking like he has fun has
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: not been there this year. The manager is a big
• 13:12
  Speaker 4: thing here too. And I think people turned on the manager.
• 13:15
  Speaker 4: I mean, again, I've talked about it ad nauseum. I
• 13:18
  Speaker 4: thought it was a terrible hire in the first place
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: and the results so far are not anywhere close to
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: good enough. I think people have turned on that a
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: little bit as well. And they just don't look like
• 13:28
  Speaker 4: they have any enthusiasm out there. There's just a very
• 13:32
  Speaker 4: paint by numbers, baseball team, that when you're not winning
• 13:37
  Speaker 4: is a hell of a lot, not fun to watch.
• 13:39
  Speaker 4: Like when you are just going through the motions, that's
• 13:43
  Speaker 4: not fun to watch. And ultimately I think it just
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: comes down to not winning, but I know this, that
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: like just the eye test for me with this baseball
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: team tells me that this team just doesn't enjoy playing
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: baseball right now.
• 13:56
  Speaker 5: And that sucks.
• 13:58
  Speaker 6: Nathan. I think it's that they're old. Honestly, like not
• 14:02
  Speaker 6: right now at this exact moment. And I think part
• 14:04
  Speaker 6: of the reason why they've been a little bit more
• 14:06
  Speaker 6: fun to watch recently is because you guys, you have
• 14:08
  Speaker 6: guys like Michael Arroyo making debuts and hitting home runs
• 14:11
  Speaker 6: and Laz Montez absolutely obliterating mistake pitches. Very few people
• 14:17
  Speaker 6: in the game can. I think that when that kind
• 14:19
  Speaker 6: of stuff is going on, when young guys are doing
• 14:21
  Speaker 6: stuff and you're losing, it's a totally different experience than
• 14:24
  Speaker 6: what you're having with this team. I think the fact
• 14:26
  Speaker 6: that this was In some ways, the Mariners' most win-now
• 14:31
  Speaker 6: roster that they've had in this era, or at least
• 14:35
  Speaker 6: the one that they themselves kind of talked themselves into
• 14:38
  Speaker 6: being their most win-now roster, I would take huge exception
• 14:41
  Speaker 6: with that because I don't think they've tried to ever
• 14:43
  Speaker 6: actually truly build a win-now roster. But I think in
• 14:46
  Speaker 6: their head and the way that they marketed it and
• 14:48
  Speaker 6: the way that they thought about this team was it
• 14:50
  Speaker 6: was kind of in line with Mr. Crawford's opening day
• 14:55
  Speaker 6: statement that they were demanding more than what they got
• 14:58
  Speaker 6: last year. I'm not sure what they thought their actions
• 15:01
  Speaker 6: were that deserve that kind of expectation, but I do
• 15:05
  Speaker 6: think that's the mindset they brought into the season and
• 15:08
  Speaker 6: to watch them fall flat with an older group, an unathletic,
• 15:14
  Speaker 6: I've mentioned this at multiple times. I do think that
• 15:16
  Speaker 6: there is an aesthetic joy to watching great athletes play
• 15:19
  Speaker 6: great baseball, especially defensively, And this team is so unathletic.
• 15:24
  Speaker 6: They're just winning or losing. The winning would cover up
• 15:27
  Speaker 6: a lot of it, but you cannot help but wince
• 15:30
  Speaker 6: when you watch J.P. Crawford try to play defense. It's
• 15:32
  Speaker 6: hard to watch somebody, even a great player like Randy
• 15:35
  Speaker 6: Rosarena in left field. The third base position has been
• 15:39
  Speaker 6: an abomination all season long. I mean, it's so hard
• 15:43
  Speaker 6: to watch if you just like to watch good baseball.
• 15:46
  Speaker 6: So to Chris's point, it's a lot of things. I
• 15:49
  Speaker 6: really think that it's... the manager not keeping it together.
• 15:53
  Speaker 6: And the fact that as Chris said, I, I think
• 15:57
  Speaker 6: like half, half of the way through this year, we've
• 15:59
  Speaker 6: talked so much about how this group of guys, when
• 16:01
  Speaker 6: the back has been against the wall, they have rallied
• 16:03
  Speaker 6: themselves and fought and found something in the tank that
• 16:07
  Speaker 6: wasn't there. And that maybe you didn't think was there,
• 16:10
  Speaker 6: but it became so abundantly clear by like early July
• 16:13
  Speaker 6: that this group was just not going to have that
• 16:16
  Speaker 6: same gear in them. And for whatever reason, I would
• 16:20
  Speaker 6: say it's probably a good portion of it is the
• 16:22
  Speaker 6: manager and the leadership or the absence of leadership in
• 16:25
  Speaker 6: the clubhouse. It's just not there, man. It's so hard
• 16:28
  Speaker 6: to watch.
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: I've got a thought, too, that I'll share in a second.
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: But I want to ask Ashley because all joking aside,
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: new and different perspective. You hear things like unlikable or
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: hard to watch. You're a big fan. You had three
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: TVs on yesterday and one of them was on the
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: baseball game.
• 16:43
  Speaker 7: Yeah.
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: What are your thoughts on why this team has that
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: feeling by many fans?
• 16:48
  Speaker 7: I mean, I think it is just purely for the
• 16:49
  Speaker 7: fact that people had such high expectations. I mean, we
• 16:52
  Speaker 7: went to the highest place that we have been as
• 16:55
  Speaker 7: Mariners fans to go to game seven of the ALCS
• 16:57
  Speaker 7: and to come back and have it be just a
• 17:00
  Speaker 7: disappointment to start again. It's like, how are we going to,
• 17:03
  Speaker 7: how do we have to keep going through this every year?
• 17:05
  Speaker 7: But especially this year, especially when the expectations were so
• 17:08
  Speaker 7: high and then For it to seem like nothing's going
• 17:12
  Speaker 7: right and no one's getting angry about it, even though
• 17:14
  Speaker 7: fans are getting angry. That's what's frustrating, I think, to me, especially. Like,
• 17:19
  Speaker 7: I want somebody to get pissed off in a post-game interview.
• 17:23
  Speaker 7: And I want them to not just be mad at themselves.
• 17:25
  Speaker 7: I want them to be mad at the team. And
• 17:26
  Speaker 7: I want Dan to be mad at himself. And I
• 17:27
  Speaker 7: want Dan to be mad at the team. Because I'm
• 17:29
  Speaker 7: irritated and I'm frustrated. And when every night you watch
• 17:33
  Speaker 7: and you hear the same thing, that was a tough one.
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it was an effing tough one.
• 17:37
  Speaker 6: I got it.
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: What are we doing about it? It's a tough one tonight.
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: My thought along those lines is, because I think it's
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: all cumulative. I don't think it's one thing or two things.
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: But if we just go back chronologically, you get the
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: World Baseball Classic. You've got a guy coming off a
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: year in which he should have been the MVP in
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: most people's minds. And the WBC, whether it was injury
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: or not, wrecked Cal Raleigh. The whole Randy thing, however
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: you want to slice it, that's dysfunctional. It's just dysfunctional.
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: It just is, right? I mean, it's just dysfunctional. And
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: I think that turned a lot of people off. And
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: then I think if you really look at it, I
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: don't think some people got paid, Naylor, and hasn't been
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: the same. The starting pitching has been just okay. This
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: roster and this way this team's beat, it needs to
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: be elite. And when the starting pitching is just okay,
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: that's hard to watch because that's kind of the thing
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: we can lean into. It'll be fine. It'd be like
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: if Mike McDonald's defense gave up a 600-yard offense today.
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: If they gave up what Chicago got yesterday, that'd be like,
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: what the hell? That's not supposed to happen. So guys
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: getting paid, guys not meeting expectations. Maybe you had a
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: group that, in an organization that does not have the
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: DNA of a winner, wasn't prepared mentally enough To have
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: the pressure to be the team that everyone was looking at.
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: Start of the season, Chris demanded the World Series. Joe
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: Sheehan and others said this will be the American League
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: West champion and the favorite in the American League. It's
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: almost like the pressure, the expectations were something they weren't
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: ready for, didn't embrace. They certainly didn't embrace it. Whereas
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: some teams want that. I think these guys, it's an
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: easy place to be comfortable. You're playing in gorgeous ballpark.
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: Fans come out every single night. It's a very, very
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: easy place to play. If people criticize them, those people
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: get criticized by many. You guys and others.
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: Right?
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: And I just think that all those things, they need
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: a DNA change. They just do. And whether that's roster,
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: front office, manager, all of the above, yes, they need
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: a DNA change. Because they were not prepared to build
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: on what they did last year. And guys, here's the
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: frustrating thing. I'll leave you with this. I want your
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: thoughts on this on the other side. This is exactly
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: what happened the last time they went to the postseason.
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: They were not capable of taking that and taking the
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: next step for whatever reason. And I think that lies
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: with the front office. I really do. I think that
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: lies with the front office. We can blame ownership and
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: managers all we want, but I think that lies with
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: the front office, that you have these expectations. You finish
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: a season short of where you want because everyone wants
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: to win the World Series, but you still took those
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: steps forward. And instead of taking the next step forward,
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: you've taken a big step back. And I think that's
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: what's hard to watch right now with this baseball team.
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: We'll get your thoughts on that on the other side.
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: Molly Watt Monday continues next.
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: Back to Ian Furness on your home for the Huskies, Kraken,
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: and the 12th man. Brought to you by Seattle's closest
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: Snoqualmie Casino and Hotel on Sports Radio 93.3, KJR FM.
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: Molly Watt Monday continues, brought to you by Simply Seattle, simplyseattle.com,
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: mollywatt15 at checkout. Nathan and Chris are here. Chris, I
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: gave you my thoughts. I don't know, there's a very...
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: it's kind of a culmination of a lot of different things, but, uh,
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: we'll just wrap up this conversation. You're dealing with people
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: on mile Y every night. You're hearing from Felix every night.
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: There's a lot of reasons why I guess we're asking
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: the question. So let's just sum it up this way.
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: This team has, has kind of turned off its fan
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: base and that that's hard to do.
• 21:23
  Speaker 5: No, it's really hard to do.
• 21:24
  Speaker 4: And, you know, I will tell you this being there,
• 21:27
  Speaker 4: there's still a great crowd and they're still having fun,
• 21:29
  Speaker 4: but it's, um, That is not the experience that I'm
• 21:33
  Speaker 4: experiencing from talking to people online. And I do realize
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: that online is not real life, but there are a
• 21:39
  Speaker 4: hell of a lot more people who are not at
• 21:40
  Speaker 4: the game who are pissed off about this stuff than
• 21:43
  Speaker 4: the people who are at the game and, you know,
• 21:45
  Speaker 4: being suckered in by Sockeye, the salmon running and all
• 21:49
  Speaker 4: of that good stuff.
• 21:52
  Speaker 5: They're mad. They're pissed off. And you know what? You
• 21:55
  Speaker 5: mentioned it earlier.
• 21:56
  Speaker 4: It's a good thing that they're pissed off because the
• 21:58
  Speaker 4: worst thing that you could have is complacency. The worst
• 22:01
  Speaker 4: thing is, is where you just don't care when that
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: was kind of what the experience was from 2005 to 2015,
• 22:07
  Speaker 4: give or take maybe a little bit longer there where
• 22:11
  Speaker 4: there was a complacency. And that's the good news is
• 22:15
  Speaker 4: that people still care, but you are at risk of
• 22:19
  Speaker 4: turning off a massive and turning off to the point
• 22:22
  Speaker 4: where things get bad and for the Seattle Mariners if
• 22:25
  Speaker 4: you have more seasons like this going forward.
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: All right. We'll table the rest of this because I think–
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: I'm just going to table this to Nathan. I'll throw
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: it to you when we get here in a couple weeks,
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: assuming things don't improve and they miss the playoffs, because
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: I just think this is a– just this conversation tells
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: us you can't run it back. You just can't. But
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: we'll get to that later. Nathan, is there any part
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: of you tonight– they got L.A., start the series with
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: the Angels, next three in Anaheim– Is there any part
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: of you that thinks, now let me do just the
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: math real quick for folks. If we assume, and I
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: think it's safe to say we can assume, that you're
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: going to have to be at least 81-81 to get
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: into the playoffs as the AL West champion, I think
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: we're also safe to assume you're not going to be
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: wildcard three with less than 83 wins, right? Can we
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: assume that? Is that 82-83 wins, right?
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: 12-0 gets you to 82. If you go 11-1, you
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: get to 81-81, Nathan. I didn't even look at the
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: games behind because what you're asking is you're asking to
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: go on a run that's unprecedented in a sense. They've
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: done it, we know, in years past. But then you're
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: also asking everybody else to fall apart, and that probably
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: won't happen. So, Nathan, is there any part of you
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: that is still holding out hope they could have a postseason?
• 23:46
  Speaker 6: I'm holding out dread that they can have a postseason
• 23:48
  Speaker 6: because like I said last week, I don't think this
• 23:50
  Speaker 6: team deserves to go to the playoffs and I'll be
• 23:52
  Speaker 6: actively angry if they're, you know, what gets rewarded with
• 23:55
  Speaker 6: a spot in the playoffs. But for people who have,
• 23:58
  Speaker 6: you know, warmth in their heart and I can look
• 24:01
  Speaker 6: at the sun and feel joy.
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: Like me, like Ashley. Yeah.
• 24:05
  Speaker 6: And for grandma and for all of the fans that
• 24:08
  Speaker 6: literally just show up every day and want their baseball
• 24:09
  Speaker 6: team to win. And God bless all of you out
• 24:11
  Speaker 6: there that there's, you make the baseball world go round. Yeah,
• 24:16
  Speaker 6: there's a chance, and it has to do with two things. One,
• 24:20
  Speaker 6: the Astros are crap. The Rangers are crap. And also,
• 24:24
  Speaker 6: every single team the Mariners are playing for the next
• 24:26
  Speaker 6: 12 days is crap. The Mariners are going to be
• 24:29
  Speaker 6: arguably a worse team than when they play the Astros
• 24:32
  Speaker 6: in two games, but they've had their number all year.
• 24:35
  Speaker 6: Other than that, they will be by a significant margin
• 24:37
  Speaker 6: the better team on the field every single time they
• 24:40
  Speaker 6: take the field between now and the end of the season.
• 24:42
  Speaker 6: So really, all you're asking them to do is be
• 24:45
  Speaker 6: chalk for the rest of the way. That's all you're
• 24:47
  Speaker 6: asking them to do when the games where you're the
• 24:49
  Speaker 6: better team. And they're going to be that every single
• 24:51
  Speaker 6: step of the way. So yeah, there's, there's definitely a chance. Um,
• 24:54
  Speaker 6: it will be, it would be absolutely disgusting. And in
• 25:00
  Speaker 6: a way that I'm, I'm only into it in, if
• 25:02
  Speaker 6: they can do it with a below 500 record. And
• 25:05
  Speaker 6: I don't think that that's possible, but if they can
• 25:07
  Speaker 6: go 80 and 82, uh, And be the first baseball
• 25:10
  Speaker 6: team to win a division below 500. I think I
• 25:12
  Speaker 6: can get into it. But 81 wins or 82, that's disgusting.
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: That is true, right, Chris? They'd be the first ones
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: to win a division under 500? Is that right?
• 25:19
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I have to assume so. We're still new to
• 25:23
  Speaker 5: this comparatively, the three-division stuff. And we've seen some... I
• 25:28
  Speaker 5: think the St.
• 25:29
  Speaker 4: Louis Cardinals won a World Series going 83 and 79,
• 25:31
  Speaker 4: something along those lines.
• 25:33
  Speaker 5: So it's not unheard of. I mean.
• 25:36
  Speaker 4: you look at that schedule that they play and it
• 25:38
  Speaker 4: is just absolute hot, wet, stinky, Caden Pinnock, sorry, Ian
• 25:44
  Speaker 4: garbage that you are looking at with this schedule coming up.
• 25:47
  Speaker 4: It is so freaking bad, but what the hell tells
• 25:51
  Speaker 4: you that they could beat bad teams?
• 25:52
  Speaker 5: They just lost two of three to one of the
• 25:54
  Speaker 5: worst teams in baseball. Like I get it.
• 25:57
  Speaker 4: And you know, if they can get within four with
• 26:01
  Speaker 4: that two game series against Houston and you sweep that
• 26:04
  Speaker 4: and you're talking to, with four to go, and then
• 26:06
  Speaker 4: you kind of hope for the miracle because Houston's schedule
• 26:09
  Speaker 4: is not friendly. They have Kansas City, but then Atlanta, Seattle,
• 26:14
  Speaker 4: and then the Athletics. So I guess it's a little
• 26:16
  Speaker 4: more friendly than I thought. But I guess there's a chance. Again,
• 26:20
  Speaker 4: I'm going with the same chance of Kelly Kapowski writing
• 26:23
  Speaker 4: me back as the Mariners winning this division. But because
• 26:26
  Speaker 4: you are playing literally the two worst teams in baseball
• 26:30
  Speaker 4: and the team that's ahead of you over these next
• 26:33
  Speaker 4: 12 games, I guess weirder things have happened, even if,
• 26:36
  Speaker 4: like Nathan said, it's not really deserving.
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think, I love Nathan's morbid thought
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: of going 80-82 and winning the division. I think that's hysterical.
• 26:49
  Speaker 5: I'd love it.
• 26:50
  Speaker 6: I do think that in 1994, before the strike, every
• 26:53
  Speaker 6: AOS team was significantly below 500. It would have happened,
• 26:57
  Speaker 6: except for the fact that we had to go on strike.
• 26:59
  Speaker 4: The Mariners were going to win that division in 1994
• 27:02
  Speaker 4: and have to play every game on the road. It
• 27:05
  Speaker 4: would have been one of the– because the kingdom wasn't
• 27:07
  Speaker 4: even close.
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: That's right. Not even close. Oh, that's right.
• 27:10
  Speaker 4: So they would have had to play every game on
• 27:12
  Speaker 4: the road, and it would have been the most difficult thing.
• 27:15
  Speaker 5: Ever, but alas.
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: Let's finish on a little bit of a stronger note.
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: Just for those that are watching that kind of– I mean,
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: most people I know have just said it's done. Like,
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's just people have tuned out, and they've
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: kind of tapped out, and they said they're done. For
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: those who are watching, Chris, we'll lean on your expertise
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: in the development world and the prospects world. Michael Arroyo's
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: played four games so far. In those four games, he
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: is three for nine. He's got a home run. He's
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: got three RBIs. Also, which is kind of impressive to me,
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: he's got four walks as well at the plate. And
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: then Montez just obliterates balls. I mean, his averages come
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: way down from that hot start and everything else. We
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: get that. It's going to happen. But boy, if somebody
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: makes a mistake to him, it's special. Just thoughts on
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: those two guys. And if you're a fan and you've
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: kind of tuned out, but you still want to do something,
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: you still want to watch them, those guys are worth watching, right?
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: In fact, play the hell out of them, please.
• 28:09
  Speaker 5: Oh, my God, yeah. They should be in the lineup
• 28:12
  Speaker 5: every single day.
• 28:13
  Speaker 4: That home run, and I'm so grateful that I got
• 28:16
  Speaker 4: to be there and sitting where I was for that
• 28:18
  Speaker 4: first home run from Lazaro Montes to get that view
• 28:21
  Speaker 4: of that ball getting patent pending, mollywhopped, just absolutely shellacked
• 28:27
  Speaker 4: into center field. I believe they said that was the
• 28:29
  Speaker 4: longest home run in T-Mobile history. Second longest all time.
• 28:33
  Speaker 5: That ball.
• 28:34
  Speaker 4: And you know what, Michael Arroyo, I've been really impressed
• 28:36
  Speaker 4: with the approach that he's shown.
• 28:38
  Speaker 5: And you know what?
• 28:39
  Speaker 4: I've been impressed with the approach Montez has shown. The
• 28:41
  Speaker 4: results in terms of on-base percentage haven't been there, but
• 28:44
  Speaker 4: he's working counts. Like, he's getting into 3-2 counts. He
• 28:47
  Speaker 4: just isn't finishing them off, and that's going to be
• 28:49
  Speaker 4: an issue for him long-term. When you have the levers
• 28:52
  Speaker 4: that you do, where you would have him rushing the
• 28:54
  Speaker 4: passer on third down, you are going to strike out
• 28:57
  Speaker 4: a ton of But you just see the ball just
• 29:00
  Speaker 4: gets absolutely peed on. Like, it's just hit on an
• 29:03
  Speaker 4: absolute rope by this dude. I'm really excited about his future.
• 29:07
  Speaker 4: I'm excited about Arroyo's future. They're nothing more than consolation
• 29:10
  Speaker 4: prizes at this point. Like, for 2026, same thing with
• 29:13
  Speaker 4: Kate Anderson, who I think has pitched great. But it
• 29:16
  Speaker 4: is nice to have a little bit of a consolation
• 29:18
  Speaker 4: to get to watch young players enjoy the game.
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: God, and the Taylor Ward thing. That is just an
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: amazing thing. He's got an on-base percentage of 231 with Seattle.
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: He was leading the league in that before he got here, right?
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: It's crazy. He was drawing tons of walks. And I'm
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: telling you, they built the stadium on indigenous ground. And
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: there's just no other explaining what's going on here. You
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: and St.
• 29:40
  Speaker 5: Mom, one of these guys suck.
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: You and Softie's mom are going to go down that
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: road until proven otherwise. And I, and I'm, listen, I'm
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: here for all of it. I'm here for all of
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: it along the way. That's that's a, that is absolutely perfect.
• 29:50
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: Uh, Nathan, we will see you next week. Go sell
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: a house or two over there on the, uh, Kitsap Peninsula.
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: If you can, uh, Chris tell folks about Meyer, my
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: OY and, uh, I always say it's just the best
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: thing to do because you can find out why. Why
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: did that home run get hit in the ninth inning?
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: Why did that happen tonight?
• 30:06
  Speaker 4: I wish I was doing more of that instead of
• 30:08
  Speaker 4: just shaking my head and wondering what the hell the
• 30:10
  Speaker 4: point of life is to go down Nathan's raid lately.
• 30:13
  Speaker 4: But I recap every game. I got to do a doubleheader. Unfortunately,
• 30:17
  Speaker 4: I didn't get a chance to do because of some
• 30:19
  Speaker 4: health stuff. I didn't get a recap on Saturday or Sunday,
• 30:22
  Speaker 4: but I'm going to jump off right after.
• 30:23
  Speaker 5: This, do a recap. Also, hit join.
• 30:27
  Speaker 4: Listen to me talk about the worst Washington Huskies team
• 30:30
  Speaker 4: I've seen in quite some time. Listen to me hopefully
• 30:33
  Speaker 4: talk about a really good Kraken team because I'm going
• 30:35
  Speaker 4: to recap those guys.
• 30:36
  Speaker 5: It's $ 3. 99 to join, and I'd really, really appreciate it.
• 30:39
  Speaker 6: I was going to say I'm so excited that you
• 30:41
  Speaker 6: get to transition from this Mariners. This Mariners season has
• 30:43
  Speaker 6: just prepared you so well for Huskies season, Chris. It's
• 30:45
  Speaker 6: going to be a seamless transition. People won't even know
• 30:48
  Speaker 6: the difference. Hey, look at this team not score any
• 30:50
  Speaker 6: points for whatever reason, maybe because the coaching is inexplicably crappy. Anyway,
• 30:55
  Speaker 6: go Dawgs.
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: I I'll subscribe just for that. If you're talking negative
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: Husky talk, I'm in man. I am in all day. Like,
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: let's go. Let's have some fun. How did Avery Johnson
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: look to you this week? Avery Johnson's got a really
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: good haircut. Like he's got a really good flow.
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah.
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: That guy's got the best hair in college football.
• 31:11
  Speaker 5: That'd be a fun stadium to go to, I think.
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: I bet you they do it right. They look like, yeah.
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: Jess said it was pretty cool. Yeah, it was pretty cool.
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: Outside of, you know, the obvious. Okay, fun times. Good times. Well,
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: that's all positive. Next week, we'll talk about Drew Locke
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: against the Cardinals, as well as a Molly Watt Monday,
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: as well. That's Nathan. That's Chris. Big thanks to Simply Seattle. Simplyseattle.com.
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: Molly Watt 15 to check out. We'll talk to the
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: boys next week. We'll come back, wrap up hour number
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: two next. All right, roll through. The show flies by here, Ashley,
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: doesn't it? Just flies by. Honestly, it really does. I
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: was looking.
• 31:43
  Speaker 6: I'm like, wait a minute.
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: What?
• 31:44
  Speaker 7: There's just like an hour left?
• 31:45
  Speaker 6: You guys have it easy.
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: Well, it used to be really easy. It was two hours.
• 31:49
  Speaker 7: Yeah, I know. Yeah, sorry. That's probably rubbing salt in
• 31:51
  Speaker 7: your wounds.
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: No, no.
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: You know, hey, it's all good. We're not working for
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: a living here. We're just doing radio, so it's all good.
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: Just wrapping up what the boys said in the last
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: segment and looking back, and there's going to be plenty
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: of time. There'll be plenty of time in the offseason,
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: and we'll mollywop through the end of the regular season
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: and wrap it up, have a wrap-up one before we
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: turn the guys loose for the fall and winter. But
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: I've just tried to wrap my arm around this all season.
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: And just the thought and the disdain that people have
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: had for this team is just one of the strangest
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: things I've ever seen in sports. People just found them...
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: It's weird to say this word because I don't know
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: if this is the accurate or correct word. Unlikable. Yeah.
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: It doesn't feel like... I love Julio.
• 32:42
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: I think Julio is one of the best things that's
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: happened to this town. Cal, I don't get. The Cal thing,
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: I just don't get. What do you mean you don't
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: get it? And maybe this is why they're where they are.
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: I said at the start of the year, Softie did
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: a thing or somebody was doing something like the most important...
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: It's one of their little lists or something.
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: I said.
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: To me, the most important athlete in this town is
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: Cal Raleigh. Now, this was like early spring.
• 33:05
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I remember him saying that, yeah.
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: And I remember saying, I think he's the most, I
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: think he's easily the most important athlete in our town.
• 33:11
  Speaker 7: Oh, sorry, yes.
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but, and maybe he is. And that's why, because
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: the year he's having, and I don't care what he's
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: done the last three weeks, it's Richie Sexton numbers. We're
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: just going to inflate some numbers in games that don't matter. But, like,
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: maybe that's why they are where they are. His ability
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: to carry the team last year hasn't been there this year.
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: It's he hasn't looked like he's been having, you know,
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: Chris and Nathan, like any fun he looks. And when
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: you're grinding in that sport, it's gotta be hard. I,
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: the one thing only I, you and I both golf.
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: I think it's, I think there's a lot of things
• 33:43
  Speaker 2: similar to golf and baseball. If just a little thing
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: is off on your swing, then you don't hit the
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: ball well or at all. And then you get really
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: frustrated and it stops being fun. And you're always trying
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: to figure out how to work it. Well, most of
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: us are just hacks and it doesn't matter because the
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: next day you might hit a couple of good shots.
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: You come back and away you go. you're a pro
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: baseball player and things are off, it probably weighs on you.
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: Starting pitching hasn't been good. Not consistently good. At times
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: it's been elite. At times it's been awful. Every one
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: of those guys has had a couple blips on the
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: radar screen like, what the hell's going on? Miller's been
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: pitching through probably an injury. But there are people really
• 34:17
  Speaker 2: actively rooting for this team not to make the playoffs.
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: And that's just an odd thing for me as a
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: fan thinking of, and I used to have this argument
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: all the time with the Seahawks, like when they were
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: kind of going through the little swell and like down
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: to 16, 17, 18, those years, Don't you want your
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: team to make the playoffs?
• 34:30
  Speaker 7: I do.
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: No matter what?
• 34:31
  Speaker 5: Yep, always. Right?
• 34:33
  Speaker 2: I don't get that mindset, but I don't know how
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: you put your finger on it, Ash. It just, to me,
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: feels like they need a complete and total reset at
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: the end of the year.
• 34:43
  Speaker 7: Yeah.
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: And that might mean roster, that might mean front office,
• 34:47
  Speaker 2: that might mean manager. But if they try to do
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: what they did next year, this year, which is basically
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: just run it back, minus Geno. And Jorge. And Jorge, yeah.
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: That's what they did. Minus two, add one, ref Snyder,
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: what have you. Well, it's just, he can't help himself. Pollock, Wong,
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: ref Snyder, doesn't matter. But if they do that next year,
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: I think it's going to hurt them at the gate.
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: I think then you're going to really start to see
• 35:12
  Speaker 2: people go, sorry, we're done.
• 35:14
  Speaker 7: I don't think there's any way you could go off
• 35:16
  Speaker 7: the disappointment that most people are feeling this year from
• 35:19
  Speaker 7: the high expectations last year and then think, yeah, we
• 35:21
  Speaker 7: don't need to do anything big in this offseason to
• 35:23
  Speaker 7: make people happy. And there's got to be changes and
• 35:27
  Speaker 7: I think that most Mariners fans, most lifelong Mariners fans
• 35:31
  Speaker 7: love Dan Wilson, but is he the right man for
• 35:33
  Speaker 7: the job?
• 35:33
  Speaker 2: It sure doesn't seem like it. They can't bring him back.
• 35:38
  Speaker 7: Yeah, and even if he wasn't, he didn't get the
• 35:40
  Speaker 7: right help. I don't know, but it just seems like...
• 35:43
  Speaker 7: It was just one thing after another going wrong this year,
• 35:45
  Speaker 7: and the bullpen just blowing up at times. And then
• 35:48
  Speaker 7: as far as Cal goes, I definitely think having his
• 35:51
  Speaker 7: first big injury that he's ever had to deal with
• 35:53
  Speaker 7: played a big part in his struggles because he's never
• 35:55
  Speaker 7: had to deal with that. To come off the season
• 35:58
  Speaker 7: he had last year and then to deal with an injury,
• 36:01
  Speaker 7: which is something you've never had, that's got to be
• 36:03
  Speaker 7: a massively hard thing to deal with as a professional athlete.
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: Most guys have gone through that before. Most guys have
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: dealt with that before. Most players and athletes have dealt
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: with that type of adversity before, and then you fight
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: through it, whether it's something like whatever it might be,
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: you fought through it. I just go back, 2022, they
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: make the playoffs. They finish 1972, second in the division,
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: get to the ALDS, obviously, and then the next year
• 36:30
  Speaker 2: they come back, and they brought it all back, ran
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: it all back, and we had all kinds of excitement
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: and momentum. They are two games worse than they were
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: the year before. They don't make the playoffs. They finish
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: third in the division, 24, kind of the same thing,
• 36:44
  Speaker 2: finish second in the division, but out of the playoffs
• 36:47
  Speaker 2: with 85 wins. God, 85 and 88 wins right now
• 36:50
  Speaker 2: would just be, you'd be in. You'd be clinched. You'd
• 36:53
  Speaker 2: be like, we're done. We're good. We're all fine. But
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: they ran it back those two years and didn't build
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: off of momentum. And they have the same, it feels
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: like it's the same blueprint this year. And I think
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: that's what fans really can't grasp. Instead of taking the
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: next step, they stand pat. Because then it becomes, I
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: think in my mind, and I'll let you have the
• 37:14
  Speaker 2: last word here, but in my mind, I think when
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: they do things like that, that's where the, hey, ownership
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: is cheap. They don't want to spend the money. They
• 37:22
  Speaker 2: don't want to do those things. I think that's when
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: that narrative comes into play, and it's hard to argue
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: against that. And that's a big turnoff for fans. No,
• 37:29
  Speaker 2: and I 100% understand that.
• 37:30
  Speaker 7: I think a lot of people have the mindset that
• 37:32
  Speaker 7: if they make the playoffs— That's all that the higher-ups
• 37:35
  Speaker 7: will need to keep things as they are.
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: And I don't think that will happen.
• 37:38
  Speaker 7: You can't go through this disappointing season, whether you make
• 37:40
  Speaker 7: the playoffs or not, and keep things the same.
• 37:42
  Speaker 2: And they're smart. I think they know that. Jerry's done
• 37:47
  Speaker 2: a good job in a lot of ways. I mean,
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: we just talked about a bunch of the young guys.
• 37:52
  Speaker 6: That are here.
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: Julio was his signing, sort of, but it was actually
• 37:56
  Speaker 2: a scout elsewhere that convinced Jerry to sign him. But
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: outside of that, I think you give him credit and
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: his staff credit. But 2016, he came here. If it
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: ends up being what it's trending towards right now, two
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: playoff appearances in a decade, not good enough.
• 38:10
  Speaker 7: It's definitely not good enough.
• 38:12
  Speaker 2: It's not good enough. All right. Enough of that nonsense.
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: Let's get back to some football. Our friend Mike Sando
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: joins us every Monday. Pick 6, Call Me The Athletic
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: is absolutely fantastic. We'll take a tour of the national football. God,
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: what a weekend we had in the NFL. And college, too,
• 38:27
  Speaker 2: by the way. Tuesdays is our college day. I'll lean
• 38:32
  Speaker 2: on you for any kind of Husky chatter if need be.
• 38:35
  Speaker 7: Perfect.
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: I'm sure you've got lots of things to say, as
• 38:37
  Speaker 2: do Husky fans. Husky fans are pretty happy right now, right?
• 38:40
  Speaker 7: I think so.
• 38:42
  Speaker 2: 2-0, you're pissed off because your offense can't score. It's like,
• 38:44
  Speaker 2: what the hell? Tuesdays are college football days. Mondays are
• 38:48
  Speaker 2: NFL for the most part. We'll get into that with
• 38:50
  Speaker 2: Mike Sando coming up next.