TORONTO – For a franchise steeped in pain and misery, this was an entirely new sensation.
For a generation of fans daring to dream for the first time, this was baseball cruelty in its most raw form.
For Cal Raleigh, heartfelt tears flowed. Blunt words followed about the state of the Seattle Mariners and the future of the organization.
“I’m super proud of these guys. It was a great team effort. Love every guy in this room,” Raleigh said after a 4-3 Game 7 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays ended the most magical season in perhaps the most unimaginable fashion Monday night.
Raleigh paused several times to compose himself, then continued.
“But ultimately, you know, I hate to use the word failure, but it’s a failure. And that’s what we expected, to get to the World Series and win the World Series. That’s what the bar is and the standard is, and that’s what we want to hold ourselves accountable to. But, yeah, it hurts.”
Eight outs away from the first World Series appearance in Seattle history – closer than they’ve ever been – the Mariners coughed up a two-run lead in the seventh inning of the first Game 7 in club history and watched as the Toronto Blue Jays and their 44,470 fans inside the Rogers Centre celebrated their first American League championship in 32 years.
Heartbreak isn’t a strong enough word to describe what happened to the Mariners on Monday night.
They all knew. Knew what they were playing for. Knew how much a World Series would mean to everyone back home in Seattle. Knew they were good enough to get there, too.
Which is why the manner in which they lost – they had it, right up until they didn’t – makes the ending all the more painful.
“It hurts,” shortstop J.P. Crawford said. “There’s nothing much more to say. It hurts, and it’s going to sting for awhile.”
The stars aligned, and the stars showed up in the biggest game in club history.
Julio Rodríguez had set the tone early, leading off the game with a double, scoring the first run and the hitting a massive solo homer in his second at-bat.
Raleigh delivered a solo blast of his own in the fifth inning – his 65th of the year, regular season and postseason combined – to extend the Mariners’ lead to 3-1, and four strong innings from George Kirby and two more from Bryan Woo got the Mariners into the seventh inning with the lead.
They had it all lined up, just about perfectly, a vintage 2025 Mariners performance.
Until it wasn’t.
Woo, making his second relief appearance of the series after missing a month with a pectoral strain, was back out to start the bottom of seventh inning and promptly walked the leadoff batter, Addison Barger.
Isiah Kinger-Falefa followed with a groundball single up the middle.
After a sac bunt put two runners in scoring position, Mariners manager Dan Wilson made the most consequential decision of the season, calling to the bullpen for Eduard Bazardo, one of the great success stories of this breakthrough season for Seattle.
Bazardo hadn’t formally lost a game during the regular season – he had a 5-0 record – and this was his ninth appearance in 12 postseason games.
Using his best pitch, Bazardo threw two sinkers to George Springer. The first one missed well inside. The second one caught too much of the plate, and Springer launched it into the first row of seats beyond the wall in left field, a three-run blast that gave the Blue Jays the lead and marked a stunning about-face for the Mariners.
It was the third homer of this ALCS for Springer, the Mariners’ longtime rival from his Houston days.
“Yesterday, I threw the same pitch right there (to Springer) and it was a groundball. And today he got me,” Bazardo said after Game 7. “
… One pitch changed, like, all my season. I never lost one game in all season. And today, the most important game, I lost the game. A little incredible, that part.”
Wilson had his closer, Andrés Muñoz, rested and available in the bullpen. He was asked to explain his decision to go with Bazardo.
“Bazardo has been the guy that’s gotten us through those situation, those tight ones, especially in the pivot role, and that’s where we were going at that point,” Wilson said.
Muñoz had just twice been used before the ninth inning this season, and never before the eighth. Wilson was asked if he considered using his closer in this particular spot in the seventh.
“Well, like we said, Bazardo’s been doing it all is season long and has been so consistent at it and he’s done such a good job all year,” Wilson said. “We felt really comfortable with him out there, the way he’s been throwing the ball, especially in this series, and it was a good spot for him.”
Woo and fellow starter Bryce Miller were among the players who sat frozen in the visitors’ dugout as the Blue Jays’ on-field celebration picked up steam.
“You’re together with a group of guys for as long as we are and everyone working toward one goal – for it to end like this, it’s heartbreaking,” Woo said.
For Wilson, there were mixed emotions.
“Disappointed, obviously. Frustrated,” he said. “But incredibly proud of what those guys have done. Incredibly proud of what they have done all season long. …
“It was just an outstanding season, a great series here, but it’s tough to come up on the short end.”