Dark times, revisited
I have a lot of unresolved traumas that I have refused to re-examine and game 2 of the 2022 Wild Card series between the Seattle Mariners and the Toronto Blue Jays was one of those. But when Secret Base released a Rewinder episode on it today, I felt it was time to confront that day.
I was in attendance, sitting with some fellow Bluebird Banterers in the 200-level outfield seats. I saw the Blue Jays build up an 8-1 lead, then I saw Tim Mayza give up a three-run homer, then a while later J.P. Crawford hit a blooper to shallow centre field with the bases loaded. Bo Bichette was running out, George Springer was running in, they collided, and everything went blurry for me—and I wasn’t even part of the collision. I truly do not remember the period between that play and when I stood up from my seat to leave Rogers Centre.
The last two seasons of Blue Jays baseball has not been great and looking back, that outfield crash may have been the start of a period where I just started falling out of love with the Blue Jays. I mean, I still love them but I definitely have less devotion to them and to you, my dear Bluebird Banters, as I once had.
But, watching this video reminded me that since the pandemic season this team had won 91, 92, and 89 games in three consecutive seasons (I will skip their record for 2024 for conciseness). So while they did poop the bed in the Wild Card twice and this regular season, we have been watching a decently good team this decade. That’s not terribly bad, right? I am, for the first time in a while, looking forward to seeing what this front office will do to improve the club for 2025. I don’t expect a 99-win finish, but maybe they sneak into the postseason and we see some postseason magic this time.
What were your memories of that Wild Card game? Where did you watch it? Did you damage any walls or furniture that day?
Oh, one of my other traumas is game 6 of the 2015 ALCS. I will not be rewinding to that game for many years to come.