Still have hope for the Mariners?

BEND, Ore. - Are you still pipe-dreaming with the Mariners?

Or are you sick of them, done with them, completely through with them?

Or maybe you’re waffling in between since they’re only three games out of a wild-card spot and five games out of first place in the AL West with 38 games to go.

You want to believe they’re the team that has banged out 27 hits the last two days in Houston, but you also know they’ve had longer stretches when they’ve been hitless wonders.

I’m not actively rooting for them to lose because I know my soon-to-be 97-year-old mom wants them to go to their first World Series in the worst way, just like so many other Mariner fans.

But I’m leaning more and more toward being OK with them falling short of the playoffs if it means that ownership will finally blow up the whole damn operation by dumping team president Jerry Dipoto and manager Dan Wilson.

I’m ready for a new set of eyes and fresh ideas and an entirely different approach. Maybe the new guys could build a team like the Brewers and Rays, two franchises with lower payrolls than the Mariners.

But yeah, there’s still hope this year because the AL West is so bad, and the wild-card contenders for the third and final playoff spot are terrible too.

In the final weeks of the season, it will be like watching a $4,000 claiming race at Emerald Downs with nags heading toward a photo finish, knowing someone has to win.

At 58-66, the Mariners are trying to track down the 61-63 Rangers, who are currently third in the wild card chase behind the Yankees and the Red Sox. But there are five teams between the Mariners and the Rangers, greatly decreasing their chances.

Know what’s crazy? We’re talking about a team that would be in last place in the AL East, 17 games behind Tampa Bay, a team that has a better record than only six other MLB teams.

Yet we mistakenly think they’re going to suddenly turn into the 1995 Mariners or the 2025 Mariners. Shouldn’t we know better? Haven’t we seen enough of this team through 124 games to understand that it’s just not going to happen in 2026?

Given my track record of always being wrong, the Mariners are now guaranteed to win in Houston today and go on to sweep the Brewers to finish off a 6-3 road trip and move within two games of the Astros.

Cal Raleigh has two hits in his last 27 at-bats after going 0-for-5 yesterday, dropping his average to .156. He could end up having the worst average in MLB history.

Should Wilson keep putting him in the lineup? If we’re being honest, he shouldn’t. Whoever you put in his place would give you a better chance to produce something other than pop-out or strikeout.

I’m guessing Wilson will keep riding him, hoping he’ll come out of it soon. But will he?

At this point I’d like to see the Mariners put him out of his misery by either coming up with a bogus injury or sidelining him for the rest of the season by saying his oblique has flared up again even if it hasn’t.

It has to be wearing on him mentally. If this were boxing, I’d stop the fight.

Jason Puckett and Chris Egan and I had a spirited debate on Puck’s Puck Sports.com podcast last Friday over whether it’s OK or not OK to recline your seat on a flight.

Puck and Egan firmly think it’s not OK, which surprised me. Puck was upset because on his most recent flight, the guy in front of him reclined his seat in such a quick and forceful way that it caused Puck’s drink to spill on the tray.

Jason verbally confronted the guy for doing what he did even though he had every right to recline his seat.

We all have that right, and here’s why:

There’s a little button on the arm rest. When you push that little button, your seat reclines. I know you know this, but apparently Jason and Chris don’t.

If the airlines didn’t want you to recline your seat, they wouldn’t have little buttons to push on the arm rests. But since they do, that means everyone is entitled to recline their seats - even Jason and Chris.

They came across like they were somehow more selfless than me, as if it’s a jerk of a move to recline my seat, reducing the leg room of the person behind me, as if they would never think of doing such a thing.

Encroaching upon your fellow man? Balderdash!

I look at it this way - my fellow man behind me can recline his seat too. And the fellow man behind him? Same thing and so on.

I’m not a total dick when I recline my seat. I do it slowly, in stages, letting the person behind me know that yes, I’m sorry, I’m coming back in your direction if that’s all right with you.

And if it’s not, oh well.

Am I wrong about that? I don’t think so but maybe you do.

Thanks for reading and subscribing. Have a good Sunday.