After the Mariners’ most recent playoff game, an event that required nearly Ernest Shackleton levels of human endurance before losing to the loathsome Houston Astros 1-0 in 18 innings, a local fan might have thought the club’s bosses would be moved to commit to never accepting such agonizing offensive futility again.
Such a fan likely was new to town.
For the second time after they broke their 21-year postseason drought, and for the 43rd time in 48 seasons, the Mariners are on the outside of the playoffs looking in, stranded again by batting ineptitude. The local customs and traditions continue.
After completing a three-game sweep Sunday of the Oakland Couchsurfers (the A’s are moving to Sacramento for three years and maybe then to Las Vegas), the Mariners finished the regular season at 85-77, winning 11 of their final 15 games. Nevertheless, the outcome was three games worse than last year even though in June they had a 10-game division lead over the Astros. The midseason swoon was so profound that manager Scott Servais and hitting coach (the second one of the season) were fired.
That left club president Jerry Dipoto as the featured target of public wrath for squandering MLB’s best starting pitchers by failing to support them with the hires of quality veteran hitters. He has been since 2016 the face of management — ownership’s majority partner, John Stanton, keeps his public appearances few and carefully curated. So Dipoto made the club’s annual post-mortem presser alone and a little early, when he met reporters before Saturday’s game in a corner of T-ball Park’s home dugout, to tiptoe through the minefield.
“Incredibly frustrating,” Dipoto said of another seasonal flop. “It’s part of the reason why we’re trying to figure out a different way, a different message. Philosophically, we’re all wired to do the same thing. In some ways, what we’ve done, organizationally, we’ve achieved so much. We’ve put a good team on the field for four consecutive years. We have talked about creating a sustainable roster. We’re just having a tough time figuring out how to climb the wall from a good team to a very good team or a great team.”
While the remarks weren’t as aggravating as his tone-deaf sales pitch a year earlier, when he told fans the club was doing them “a favor” by carefully slow-building a contender, his confession Saturday of being mystified by next steps was fairly remarkable. Particularly in view of a Seattle Times story Sept. 5 that reported his job was safe.
Let’s reduce the mystery to an analogy many Seattle-area shoppers can understand: The Mariners are trying to make a tasty meal exclusively from the free-sample stations at Costco. Lingering around the chicken-mint ice cream wagon does not make a worthy dinner.
Since the club’s 1977 inception, a succession of ownerships has been scared to play hard in the business side of the only major American spectator sport without a player-salary cap. While hardly alone in MLB, the Mariners’ self-imposed fear is compounded by the unavoidable constraints of Seattle baseball: The club plays in the most difficult park in which to hit, and is in the game’s most remote city. Even a four-state (and western Canada) market monopoly apparently is not enough to create the revenue courage to spend freely.
Some of the consequences can be seen below: A list of playoff appearances by all MLB teams from the start of Dipoto’s tenure in 2016 through the games of Sunday.
One qualifier, marked with asterisks, applies: Because of postponements due to Hurricane Helene, the Mets and Braves, both 88-72, must play a doubleheader Monday in Atlanta to settle the final National League wild-card entrants, a race that also includes the Diamondbacks (89-73), who can advance if either the Mets or Braves sweep the doubleheader.
As of Sunday night, here are the post-season appearances over the past nine seasons:
9 — Dodgers
8 — Astros
7 — Yankees
6 — Braves*, Guardians, Brewers
5 — Rays
4 — Red Sox, Twins, Blue Jays
3 — Cubs, A’s, Nationals
2 — D-backs*, Mets*, White Sox, Rockies, Marlins, Phillies, Padres, Giants, Rangers, Orioles
1 — Mariners, Reds, Royals, Tigers
None — Angels, Pirates
As longtime baseball fans know, there is no direct annual correlation between salary dollars and victories. But over time, payroll investments tend to pay off. This season, according to Spotrac, if the Mets advance, five of MLB’s top six teams in payroll are in the 12-team postseason field. The Mariners’ $148 million payroll is 16th. The Mets are No. 1 at $318 million, the Yankees next at $308 million.
But every year, teams with payrolls about the same or smaller than the Mariners “climb the wall,” to use Dipoto’s expression. As the list shows, teams in mid-markets such as Tampa Bay, Milwaukee, Cleveland and Minnesota have prospered, while the Mariners have languished in the Dipoto regime.
Which is not to say the Mariners roster is hapless. They appear to have found an every-day outfield after Victor Robles, a mid-season waiver-wire pickup, showed he could hang with Julio Rodriguez and Randy Arozarena, allowing Luke Raley to be a first baseman and fourth outfielder. In Cal Raleigh, whose 34th homer Sunday gave him 93 in his first four seasons, surpassing Hall of Famer Mike Piazza for most dingers in history by a catcher, Seattle has one of the top three backstops in the game. Needed are upgrades at second base, third base and shortstop, although J.P. Crawford’s contract has more than $20 million owed over the next two years, so Dipoto likely is left to pray to the ballgods for a bounceback season.
As I’ve commented before, I’d much rather be curled up in the fetal position on the living room floor while enduring a blinding, gale force hangover than watch a Seattle Mariner anything.
How any professional baseball organization could field the the best in pitching in all of MLB and then accompany it with a Mendoza Line-like batting effort is beyond belief.
You would’ve *loved* the 1992 Seahawks, then. An outstanding defense, including NFL Defensive Player of the Year Cortez Kennedy, but a 2-14 record due to a hideous offense.
Good pull from the dark side of Seattle’s Seattle’s sporting past. I hope Sally offers the recipe for a gale-force hangover. I’m always interested in extremes.
The only consolation is, Stanton isn’t trying to move the team. I feel terrible for the A’s fans who flooded the ballpark this weekend, as it’s the last time they’ll see their team as the “Oakland” A’s as the owner deliberately tanked the team to move them to Las Vegas (via Sacramento).
Oakland has been abandoned by the NBA and NFL, and now by MLB. Oakland has bigger problems, yet now they have lost their three largest distractions.
Oakland has been abandoned by NFL and NBA, now by MLB. Oakland has larger problems, but now they have lost their three best distrctions.
Great article Art. Unfortunately ownership can count on Mariner fans to continue to support them at the box office so no need to spend anymore than needed to reasonably complete.
That is the default mandate. If fans don’t like it, they can go to the nearest alternative baseball store. Say, Oakland. Oh, wait . . .
Another recipe for eternal mediocrity: develop the best starting rotation in baseball while simultaneously trading away your best relievers.
In fairness, if relievers Matt Brash and Gregory Santos had been healthy, the M’s would be in the playoffs. Then again, other teams, such as the Astros, had worse injuries, but found a way to be one of the 12 best teams.
Hard to argue with any of the logic/facts here – it’s a dismal record over the life of this franchise.
And yet, because I love baseball – a game like no other – I’m not a win-something-or-I’ll-never-buy-another-ticket -again fan. Call me a hopeless optimist, but let’s remember that the M’s were still in the playoff hunt almost to the end of the season. That made every game in the last month actually mean something. Beats knowing it’s over sometime in mid-summer. Beats having no baseball in town.
Mike, a hopeless optimist? In my case, I call it self flagellation.
Not at all — just enjoying the game of baseball. No bruises from self-flagellation, just fun at the ballpark.
You’re the kind of fan the owners count on, Mike. Fortunately for them, the group is a large plurality in this market.
The Tacoma Rainiers finished with the best record in the PCL West this season, so there’s talent in the system and area. Unfortunately for the Rainiers, the PCL uses a split-season format, where the first- and second-half winners are the only postseason entrants, and they didn’t finish on top in either half.
If a sports fan wants to keep from pulling their hair out in the summer because of the M’s, the Seawolves (rugby), Sounders, Storm and (except this year) Reign are reliably successful.
Art, I share the disappointment over this last quarter century, but if the choice is T-Mobile for a Toronto/Astros/Red Sox/Yankees game or no baseball at all, it’s a pretty easy call. But keep on – always a good read!
As Art has already stated, your unflagging commitment to Mariner’s baseball does nothing but ensure the team will remain mediocre in perpetuity. Congrats on that…
Not since Billy Ray and Louis hoodwinked Mortimer and Randolph has anyone been grifted harder than what Jerry Dipoto has done to Mariners fans. His speech is just so smooth and calculated that you need to listen closely to catch his real meaning.
He found this season “incredibly frustrating. Translation: “Our mediocre roster-building model enables us live forever in that beautifully cynical sweet spot where false hope (ticket sales) coexists beautifully with our highly profitable business model!” In fact, I’m sure that team ownership doesn’t care the slightest about making the playoffs given all postseason revenue is split across all teams in MLB.
In case you’re wondering how profitable, in the nine years since John Stanton paid $1.2 billion for the team in 2016, operating profits for the Mariners have totaled $286 million (Forbes magazine). But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. A ridiculously generous IRS rule known as the Roster Depreciation Allowance (RDA) enables the vast majority (90-95%) of the $1.2 billion franchise purchase price to be depreciated over a 15-year period, a tax deduction of ~ $75mm each year through 2031. So, although the Mariners are profitable from an operating standpoint, they have generated phony-baloney tax losses in most every year since 2016. And given the team is organized as a private partnership, any phony-baloney tax losses are allowed to flow through to offset partners income from other sources as well. I estimate the tax savings generated by the RDA to be ~ $134mm over the past nine years. Combined with the $286mm operating profits, John Stanton and the other owners have recognized positive cash flow of ~ $420mm since 2016.
The simple fact of the matter is that the Seattle Mariners have perpetuated a fraud against the taxpayers of King County and the State or Washington. The taxpayers’ contribution to build T-Mobile Park was just over $400mm combined with a ridiculously generous lease – resulting a glorious playground ensuring the Mariners ownership will enjoy operating profits (and phony baloney tax write-offs) for many years to come, without any commitment to whatsoever to provided a palatable on-field product.
Jerry Dipoto’s latest disingenuity is to suggest that September’s relative improvement by the team’s hitters portends great things for next year. His hiring of former players and fan favorites Dan Wilson as manager and Edgar Martinez as hitting coach are not strategic hires but simply a brazen attempt at emotional manipulation to engender loyalty (season ticket sales) from an overly nostalgic and frankly gullible fan base.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, the only way to force change from the Mariner’s current cynical business model is to simply stop believing in next year. Given the current ownership group, there is nothing more to believe in. So, STOP BUYING TICKETS. A decline in attendance of say 1 million year-over-year may get John Stanton’s attention. And if that doesn’t work JS needs to be reminded that we know where his grandkids go to school…
Not since Billy Ray and Louis hoodwinked Mortimer and Randolph has anyone been grifted harder than what Jerry Dipoto has done to Mariners fans. His speech is just so smooth and calculated that you need to listen closely to catch his real meaning.
He found this season “incredibly frustrating. Translation: “Our mediocre roster-building model enables us live forever in that beautifully cynical sweet spot where false hope (ticket sales) coexists beautifully with our highly profitable business model!” In fact, I’m sure that team ownership doesn’t care the slightest about making the playoffs given all postseason revenue is split across all teams in MLB.
In case you’re wondering how profitable, in the nine years since John Stanton paid $1.2 billion for the team in 2016 operating profits for the Mariners have totaled $286 million (Forbes magazine). But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. A ridiculously generous IRS rule known as the Roster Depreciation Allowance (RDA) enables the vast majority (90-95%) of the $1.2 billion purchase price to be depreciated over a 15-year period, a tax deduction of ~ $75mm each year through 2031. So, although the Mariners are profitable from an operating standpoint, they have generated phony-baloney tax losses in mostly every year since 2016. And given the team is organized as a private partnership, any phony-baloney tax losses are allowed to flow through to offset partners income from other sources as well. I estimate the tax savings generated by the RDA to be ~ $134mm over the past nine years. Combined with the $286mm operating profits, John Stanton and the other owners have recognized positive cash flow of ~ $420mm since 2016.
The simple fact of the matter is that the Seattle Mariners have perpetuated a fraud against the taxpayers of King County and the State or Washington. The taxpayers’ contribution to build T-Mobile Park was just over $400mm combined with a ridiculously generous lease – resulting a glorious playground ensuring the Mariners ownership will enjoy operating profits (and phony baloney tax write-offs) for many years to come.
Jerry Dipoto’s latest disingenuity is to suggest that September’s relative improvement by the team’s hitters portends great things for next year. His hiring of former players and fan favorites Dan Wilson as manager and Edgar Martinez as hitting coach are not strategic hires but simply a brazen attempt at emotional manipulation to engender loyalty (season ticket sales) from a nostalgic and frankly gullible fan base.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, the only way to force change from the Mariner’s current cynical business model is to simply stop believing in next year. Given the current ownership group, there is nothing more to believe in. So, STOP BUYING TICKETS. A decline in attendance of say 1 million year-over-year may get John Stanton’s attention. Otherwise you have only yourselves to blame….