Wild Card Fever: Fans Flock To T-Mobile As Ms Approach Playoffs

SEATTLE — The Seattle Mariners have not made the playoffs since 2001. It is the longest current drought in Major League Baseball and all American major league sports.

And it could end this year.

Despite a middling start to the season, the Mariners have won 11 of their last 13 games and, as of Thursday, are just half a game behind the Boston Red Sox for the American League's second wild card spot.

As Gabe Lacques with USA Today so nicely put it: "[V]irtually any metric suggests the Mariners have no business being in this playoff race."

But that unlikely turnabout is exactly what has Ms fans so excited. The team is printing up thousands of signs to give away this weekend. They simply say: Believe.

And the fans apparently do believe, because they're flocking to these final games in droves. The team's fresh printing of "Bleacher Believers" T-Shirts has already run out, and as of the team's latest count midday Thursday, fans have bought around 30,000 tickets for each of the next three home games against the Los Angeles Angels. T-Mobile Park's capacity is 47,000 — so while there are seats available, they're filling up fast.

This weekend also happens to be Fan Appreciation Weekend, offering special prizes and events for longtime fans Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The Mariners have just those three games left to see if they can secure the wild card. If they can clinch it, they'll officially have broken their drought by making it to the postseason, and will play the other top AL Wild Card team, which at this point looks likely to be the NY Yankees, in a one-game playoff.

They'll be counting on the fans to give them that final push, but just in case the team has also (jokingly) asked Washington to put an end to all "non-baseball activities" until their playoff run is complete.