“Like I always tell the boys, ‘Hey, no matter what situation we are in, we’ve got to keep the ‘good vibes’ only…”

Eugenio Suarez

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At the outset of the Seattle Mariners 2022 season I had a premonition. With the fan excitement generated by the M’s 2021, 90-win season, when they came within an eyelash of ending their then 20-season playoff drought (the longest in major American professional sports), I knew expectations for the team would be high, and justifiably so. With many of the players who created those wins returning, plus the additions of players like talented rookie Julio Rodriguez, as well as Eugenio Suarez, Jesse Winker and Adam Frazier, all former All-Stars, long suffering Mariners fans had a right to expect their team’s decades long post season dearth to end. Perhaps “premonition” is too strong a word, but I felt the same way.

            It was with all this in mind that I decided to chronicle the Seattle Mariners season as it transpired across the spring and summer of 2022, game by game, all the way to that anticipated playoff berth, to end at last our team’s post season futility. And so, that is exactly what I did, and the result is “Good Vibes Only: The Seattle Mariners 2022 ‘Ending the Playoff Drought’ Season.” Commencing with the season opening 4-game series against the Minnesota Twins, the book then takes the reader game by game through the entire season, at last climaxing in Cal Raleigh’s exciting playoff clinching homer against the Oakland A’s and the thrilling Wild Card round playoff victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. Along the way we M’s fans witnessed the rise of our team’s next super star, Julio Rodriguez; the arrival of another stellar rookie pitcher, George Kirby; the acquisition of All-Star hurler Luis Castillo and his electric stuff; the development of Cal Raleigh into the best power-hitting catcher in Major League Baseball, and the exploits of all are thoroughly covered in the book. Included too are the highs and lows inevitable in the long 162-game season, as well as my reactions to what I was observing on the field—as with any true fan, I am liberal in sharing my joys and frustrations with this team; sometimes possibly exaggerated, but always honest.

            And the story would not be complete without a treatment of the 3-game sweep of the M’s by the dreaded Houston Astros in the AL Divisional Round of the playoffs, including that classic 18-inning, 1-0 loss at T-Mobile Park, Seattle’s first home playoff game in 21 seasons. Though losing that series was frustrating, each of the 3 games could have gone either way, and they demonstrated just how close our team is to possibly supplanting the hated Houstoners and making it to the World Series, something the Mariners have never done and are way overdue to accomplish. Could it be that the 2023 Mariners, with all these great young players, may at last be the team to do it? I think it is very possible.

            Lastly, with “Good Vibes Only” it was my intention to provide for Mariners fans an enjoyable memento of the remarkable 2022 “ending the playoff drought” season. On reading the book, I hope you’ll agree that has been accomplished.

            Go M’s!!!

Mark Arnold

March 18, 2023

“Good Vibes Only: The Seattle Mariners 2022 ‘Ending the Playoff Drought’ Season”

Available now on Amazon in kindle and paperback formats:

https://www.amazon.com/Good-Vibes-Only-Seattle-Mariners