Fall Ball

We've become fans of the Mariners over our years in Seattle. Over the past few years, the team has all the ingredients of a heart breaking local team that is good enough to create hope but never great enough to go deep in the post season. Maybe this year is different?

The fandom has grown as Holden has gotten into baseball. With Little League and late night pitching sessions in the backyard, he has become a student of the game. He understands the dynamics better than I do. He's a great fan of sport - really of any sport - but baseball has taken root in his soul. The slow unfolding of a single game and the long, meandering path of the season, all draw him in.

More has been written about baseball than perhaps any other sport in America. The sheer amount of play and the longevity of careers make for grand narrative arcs combined with endless statistics. Every game has its own flow and they combine for ups and downs over the course of months and years.

Dropping the first game of the ALDS was a gut punch. Lost in classic Mariners fashion, the game drew us in. Listening on the sidelines of a youth soccer game, cheering as much for the game on the field in front of us as the one we are checking into from afar. Listening the car ride home, unsure if we had the time to step away and miss a moment of action.

Tonight we watched Game 2 with family and all lived every pitch. Every swinging strike. Every crack of the bat. And tonight the hits fell where they needed. The stars connected when it mattered. The pitching was excellent exactly when it needed to be.

The air is now crisp. The leaves are turning. And the Mariners are tied 1-1 in the ALDS. How far into the dream of October Baseball can we ride this?