You're welcome back to the show.
Despite a recent slump,
the Mariners are still on track to make the
playoffs for the first time in 20 years.
Now, here's a look at the Wild
Card standings right now.
The M's hold the third Wild card spot.
There are four games ahead of the
next closest team, the Orioles,
with just eight more games to go.
If they can do it,
this town is going to go bonkers.
We're going to go wild,
and so is our next guest,
Mariners senior VP of Marketing
and Communications Kevin Martinez.
And welcome to new day.
No, thanks for having me.
And it's great to be here.
This is an exciting time.
It really is.
It has been such a wonderful season.
The fan support, the energy in the
ballpark has really been special.
It's made a huge difference.
Our players talk about it all the time
and we're coming down the homestretch.
So now now it's crunch time.
Alright. We got this, though.
So you've been with the
Mariners since the 90s.
How does this group of guys stack
up? It it really is a special group of guys.
You know, we, we went to spring training
this year and we're down there for about
a week working with the players and.
We we, as we were flying back to Seattle,
a number of us just commented on what
a special group of players that we
had really good guys and if their
talent could flourish on the field.
We said we're gonna have something
special and special for a long time,
and to see that actually happen this
season has been incredible for for
the organization and for the city.
Speaking of the organization within it,
you're kind of a big deal.
You're pretty high up there,
but you still take time to
interact with the fans.
Get on into that experience.
Yeah. You know, it was
probably back in 2009 when
social media was really taking
hold and we saw an opportunity,
especially on the the the platform Twitter,
to to be accessible and to listen
and to engage with the fans.
And you know, growing up a sports fan,
the opportunity to engage with
people that actually work for
the team to resonated with us.
So we really strive to be accessible,
to listen. And honestly,
some of the best ideas come from the fans.
Of that, and I believe it's true.
Yeah, it is. So the Mariners have
been struggling this pack past
week against their division rivals.
Making the playoffs is the goal, obviously.
How important is it to be, you know,
a hot streak at the end of the season
instead of limping into the postseason?
Yeah, well, as you said, we're,
we're, we're we're down here to
the final few games of the season.
The magic number is 10 for the Mariners.
Any combination of Mariners wins
and Orioles losses, that equals 10.
And the Mariners are in. So.
Yeah, it's been a little bit of a
difficult road trip, but the good
news is our guys are getting healthy.
And Julio's back in the lineup,
calls back in the lineup.
You know, Mitch Hanniger is back and we're
waiting for Gino Suarez to come back.
We're going to need a little
momentum to make the postseason.
Yeah. So, you know,
getting everybody healthy and back on the
field should give us that push we need.
It's good to hear Julio's recovered.
Yes. Ohh, yes. Yes. Now,
in terms of the wild care card hunt,
what are the different scenarios? Yeah,
so the the playoffs.
Are very different.
The postseason has been expanded this year,
and as you can see on our board here,
there are I love this.
There are three wild card
positions right now,
and if the season ended today,
the Blue Jays would be
in the number four spot,
the spot that's the first wild card position.
Tampa would be in #5 and then
the Mariners would be in #6,
which means we would go on the road
to Cleveland to play the AL Central
winner in a best of three series.
Now, these three spots are changing daily.
Really, they're everybody is so close
that if with with 14 games to go,
there's a real good chance that
we could end up here and then we
would host three games at T-Mobile
Park in that Wild Card series,
which would just be incredible for our city.
Oh my gosh, this is seriously
changing by the minute. Yeah, every
day you need to check,
because these three teams right now,
the Blue Jays, rays and Mariners are
within a couple games of each other.
Is there a certain path? You like
for me and for for our city and
our region. I would love for us
to host these the best of
three series here in Seattle.
But honestly we just looking to get in
and then the fun really starts once you
get into the postseason and the the
possibility and and the crown here.
That's what we're going for.
But it looks like if we go here, then we're
gonna have to get through these guys.
Yeah. Yeah, that's fine.
Hey, look, we got the Astros like
it it's it's hard time to take
down Houston.
There are very good ball club.
But you know, you look at our
pitching and the way it's matured
in the second-half of the season.
With guys like Logan
Gilbert and George Kirby,
we added Luis Castillo at the trade deadline.
With Robbie Ray,
I'll take those guys
against any team right now,
American League or national.
Nice. Yeah, bold words. Well,
I'm really excited for everything overall.
How have you felt about just the
whole experience this season?
Yeah, like I said, we felt it in spring
training and we didn't know if it
would come to fruition because
we've got a young team.
But what Jerry Dipoto and Justin Hollander
have done in making acquisitions.
Right before the season started,
an in season this team is is not only
exciting team amity for this year.
Yeah, but it's gonna be for years to come.
We're gonna be talking about this
scenario every year for years to come,
which is wonderfully exciting.
I think that's awesome. Yeah.
So the EMS returned home for one final
regular season home stand next week.
What do we need to know
before going into that
game? Look, it it all starts Tuesday night.
The club comes back.
We we have a 10 game homestand.
We play 10 games in nine days.
Tuesday we have three against the Rangers.
Then the weekend we play the Oakland A's,
and then we finish with four
against the Detroit Tigers.
We've got value games,
so it's as low as 10 bucks to get in.
That's awesome.
We've got a bark in the park that we've
got a doubleheader against the Tigers on.
On that Tuesday,
Mike McCready of Pearl Jam will be
starting us off with the national anthem.
There's so much plan.
Just go to mariners.com to to check out
all of the the events and excitement,
but the guys have said it all.
Year along,
the players said the fans make
the difference and Seattle's got
the best sports fans in the land.
We see it with all the teams.
They've made a huge impact
on our team this year,
so we need that ballpark rock and
it was dubbed the Electric factory
earlier in the year by Jesse
Winker and it's something
that's stuck.
Our players wear the electric fact,
they feed off the fans energy.
So it's really important that
the starting Tuesday night
we have T-Mobile Park packed
tight. OK, we gotta do.
And also I know we were
putting up the graphic,
I just wanna ask Kevin so we can put that.
Backup of some of the events
that are happening.
Yeah, you mentioned McCready
and and Pearl Jam,
so we've got flannel night,
flannel nights happening
on the 27th. That's a great, a great one.
It's become a tradition
over the last few years.
Bark in the park on the 28th and then, yeah,
fan appreciation night on Friday night.
There's a postgame fireworks show.
So it's a it's an action-packed homestand.
It all starts Tuesday night.
And there's there's so much going on.
I encourage everybody
just go to mariners.com.
You'll check out all the information.
All right. Thank you so much for
being here. Please come back.
We need you to explain this again.
Love to as things start to change.
Alright. Thank goodness you're
right across the street.