Any degree of sports fandom tends to affect things at home. My personal connection to the Seattle Mariners, and to baseball in general, is hopelessly intertwined with my personal life. And so it was that last Sunday, with the Mariners’ playoff chances hanging in the balance, I found myself sitting on the Washington State Ferry Yakima, headed south to Anacortes from Orcas Island, checking and re-checking the MLB app on my phone. Were the A’s winning? How was Felix pitching? Had the Mariners scored any runs? Could Texas come back, and give the Ms a li’l help?

As I learned in the car after we got off the ferry, the Rangers were incapable of mounting a comeback against the A’s (not surprising for a team whose Disabled List outmanned its 25-man roster). Thus ended ended the Mariners’ playoff hopes, despite their final game 4–1 win over the Los Angeles Angels. The win, while gratifying, did not get the team that Wild Card berth we had dared to dream about all summer.

But sitting in the car headed south, I thought back to 1995, when you couldn’t walk down the block in Seattle without hearing the late Dave Niehaus yelling “My oh my!”, and 2001, a summer filled with sellout crowds at Safeco Field and “Who Let The Dogs Out” joyfully (and in retrospect, embarrassingly) ringing out in celebration of another Mariner success. This season didn’t start out with a sense of expectation for the Ms, but neither did ’95 or Ought-1. Instead, the excitement built across these three seasons, as the improbable happened before our very eyes. Unfortunately it ended just one game short — but it was a helluva ride for players and fans alike..

The Mariners ended the year the way they started, sweeping the Angels at home in front of joyous Safeco crowds. Friends who were at the games last weekend talked about the roar when Felix left the game on Sunday, and the craziness of the comeback win Saturday night (only the second of the season for the Mariners!) The fans are coming back to Safeco, and that bodes well for Mariners payrolls to come [the Mariners finished with 2,063,622 fans for the season, an average attendance of 25,477, a 17 percent increase from last season, and the largest gain of any team in the Majors.]

And while the Angels may be World Series favourites, the Mariners finish the year with a 12-7 record against the Halos. (And the Kansas City Royals, in their first playoff appearance since 1985, ended the As season, not that we would ever gloat about that.) The Ms finished up 87-75, 12 games above .500 and a whopping 16 wins ahead of last year’s 71-91 team. The team’s 3.17 ERA was best in the American League, and was second only to the Washington Nationals’ 3.03 in all of baseball. Despite his own personal, funhouse mirror way of handling the closer’s duties, Fernando Rodney racked up an AL-leading 48 saves, and the bullpen had the lowest ERA in the Majors.

So there are signs of hope for next year. A great starting rotation, solid bullpen, and overall a good defensive team, finds itself in need of some bats. Despite Robinson Cano’s solid presence, and a good year from Kyle Seager, the pieces that were brought in at the trade deadline did not quite get the job done at the plate. Fortunately the Mariners did not trade away the farm, so there are plenty of options (and plenty of things to talk about over the offseason) to pursue for the 2015 team.

Long-time Mariners fans know all about losing — let me give a big fist pump of my own to long-suffering Canucks fans three hours north of us. We’ve seen it many, many times, and know all too well the frustration of a beautiful late August game at the ballpark that has absolutely no meaning in the standings. Cheering for individual player performances is nice, and all. I’ve spent many a fall counting Ichiro hits and Felix strikeouts. But this autumn, it has been a rare pleasure to care about the Mariners as a team this year, all the way down to the final game. Roller coaster ride it turned out to be, but hey, dem roller coasters are pretty darned fun if you ask me.

Just wait ’til next year! The Mariners will start 2015 at home against the Angels (you may be sensing a theme here), with Game 1 on Monday, April 6th. I can’t wait.

Editor’s note: Pucked in the Head would like to thank and congratulate John Stewart on his first season as our voice of the Mariners. We’ve had a blast talking baseball with John this year, and look forward to many more seasons of his Boys of Summer commentary.