What Constitutes a Successful Season at this Point for the 2022 Mariners

 The 2022 Seattle Mariners season has been quite the roller coaster.  From being 10 games under .500 to going on a 14-game winning streak, this team has really experienced the highest of highs and the lowest of lows.  The Mariners currently sit at 82-67, guaranteed their first consecutive back-to-back winning seasons since 2002 and 2003.  But the team's sights are set on the postseason, to make their first trip there in 21 years.  

The Mariners are currently nearing the end of a three-city road trip, a road trip that has gone about as bad as it could for a contending team.  They salvaged the final games in each series so far from the Angels and A's, two teams that have no shot at the postseason.  They also seem to have lost Julio Rodriguez, their star player, for at least a few games.  Even if the Mariners sweep the Royals, they cannot have a winning road trip.

I'm left wondering what constitutes a successful season at this point.  The worst realistic scenario would be this hitting slump continues, injuries mount, and the Mariners limp into the #6 wild card spot and promptly lose two games in Cleveland.  That to me would not constitute a successful season given where the Mariners once stood.  

I'd say the bare minimum for the Mariners is they need to win a playoff game.  I could argue the Mariners need to host a playoff game, which would mean either claiming the top wild card spot or winning their wild card series.  I'll say this: If the Mariners can host a playoff game, it will definitely be a successful season, regardless of how the rest of the postseason goes.  If they cannot, it'll definitely be left up to the determination of their fans.

This recent stretch of losing and poor hitting is certainly concerning.  But if the Mariners can enter the postseason on a hot streak, good things can happen.  They'll need to use their final homestand to get right.  They'll need to use it to figure out which hitters will be on the postseason roster and to break some hitters out of slumps.  

Of course, the Mariners have not clinched anything yet.  The postseason is not guaranteed.  But a collapse of that proportion would be too much for most Mariners fans, myself included, to handle.  We have put up with too much heartbreak in the last two decades, and a collapse of that nature would put me over the edge as a Mariners fan.  

Once the season is over, I will make another post recapping and say if it was a successful season or not.  It'll be hard to say it's not a successful season if the Mariners make the playoffs, ending a 21-year postseason drought.  But if the Mariners limp in, promptly lose both games and fail to even host a playoff game, it'll be equally hard to call it a successful season.