Longtime Seattle Mariners fans will remember the team once promoted itself with the slogan — and I am not making this up — “Anything can happen.”
Those were the dark days of the early 1980s, when the best we could expect was the random chance that our team might luck into a good season. Well, that and a Kingbeer for less than five bucks.
Eventually we got a few good years and some playoff appearances. But sadly, since Edgar Martinez hung up his light bat, we’ve been in baseball purgatory. Most years, it’s been so dismal that “Anything can happen” would have seemed overly optimistic. Call it the Chone Figgins era.
What a difference a winning season makes. Since the M’s finished just short of the playoffs in 2014, there’s been an odd sensation surrounding the team: confidence that they’re going to be good.
That’s reflected in the votes on our latest non-scientific poll, asking what you think of the team’s chances this season. Half said they should make the playoffs, and another 15 percent predict a World Series. Add that up and you have 65 percent who expect postseason baseball to return to Safeco Field. A good chunk of the rest — 19 percent — thought they’ll be around .500, while only 16 percent said we’ll have to wait ‘til next year again.
The local optimism jibes pretty well with what most national pundits are saying. The Mariners are Sports Illustrated cover boys and a popular pick at ESPN to win the American League pennant. A poll of major league players picked them as second-most likely World Series champions.
Will the Mariners really live up to the hype?
Anything can happen.
— Doug Parry, Herald Web editor: dparry@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @parryracer
For our next poll, our resident allergy sufferer has a question:
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