The ball barely had settled into Anthony Rizzo's glove, the final out of the World Series, when I can only guess that every Mariners fan had a simultaneous thought.
When does OUR drought end?
The Cubs' title, 108 years in the making, should provide comfort and hope to any long-suffering fan base, as did the Red Sox's curse-ending title in 2004, their first in 86 years. The White Sox ended a drought even longer than Boston's the following season, but for some reason there never was anywhere near the mythology built around that Chicago team.
By those standards, the Mariners are in the very early stages of pain, having gone a mere 40 years (which happens to be every year of the franchise's existence) without winning the World Series. The recently vanquished Indians are the new kings of misery, having gone 68 years since their most recent title, followed by the Rangers/Senators (56 years), Astros (55), Brewers (48), Padres (48), Nationals/Expos (48) ... and the Mariners at 40.
The Mariners, though, have some unique elements that fortify their misery index. For one thing, as we all know by now, they are one of two current teams _ the other being the Washington Nationals/Montreal Expos _ to have never reached the World Series.
They also have, as Mariners fans again don't need to be reminded, the longest stretch without making the playoffs, dating to 2001 _ 15 years and counting. There certainly is a case to be made for the Mariners having the most frustrated fan base in baseball. Even the Indians, topping the drought list, have been in three World Series since 1995 _ and went into extra innings in Game 7 in two of them. 'Tis better to have played and lost than never to have played at all.
You could say the Mariners deserve some slack for being an expansion team. But the Blue Jays, who started the same year as Seattle (1977), have won two World Series _ and those were more than 20 years ago. The Diamondbacks were launched in 1998 and won a World Series by 2001. The Rays also were born in 1998 and made the World Series by 2008. The Marlins, who came into existence in 1993, have two championships. The Rockies, who entered as an expansion team that same year, reached the World Series in 2007. So that excuse doesn't hold water.
Among the current teams never to win a World Series is the Milwaukee Brewers, whose lone appearance in 1982 resulted in a seven-game loss to the Cardinals. Considering the Brewers began as the Seattle Pilots in 1969, give some bonus suffering points to our city.
By the Cubbies' standards of futility, Seattle can expect to win the World Series in 2084. But for those who don't want to wait another 68 years, it's instructive to look at how the Cubs got it done. In reality, their revitalization was not a 108-year project. It was a five-year plan executed by president of baseball operations Theo Epstein, who happens to be the same man who masterminded Boston's first championship since 1918.
Short of luring Epstein to Seattle for his next challenge, perhaps there are some lessons to be learned. Epstein and general manager Jed Hoyer, another Red Sox alum, inherited a team that had lost 91 games in 2011 _ and they would go 61-101, 66-96 and 73-89 in the first three years of the Epstein/Hoyer tandem. They broke out in 2015 with a playoff berth and broke through in 2016 with a title.
It took a slow, methodical rebuild, getting worse before they got better, something the Mariners have never tried _ at least not intentionally. They've mastered, over the past decade and a half, the dubious strategy of getting worse while trying to get better.
The Cubs made a series of incredibly astute moves. They hit on the trade market (Rizzo, Addison Russell, Jake Arrieta, Kyle Hendricks, Aroldis Chapman). They hit on the free-agent market (Jon Lester, Ben Zobrist, John Lackey, David Ross, Dexter Fowler _ who was originally acquired via trade). They hit in the draft (Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber, Javier Baez). They hit on international signings (Willson Contreras, Jorge Soler). And they lucked out when manager Joe Maddon magically became available at the precise time they were ready to be competitive.
Don't look for the Mariners to do a slow rebuild _ at least not now, not with $74 million owed to four players _ Felix Hernandez, Robinson Cano, Hisashi Iwakuma and Nelson Cruz _ who will be 31, 34, 36 and 36, respectively, next season.
The infamous "window of opportunity" to win with that quartet is nearly closed. And teased by their near-miss of a playoff berth in 2016, the club's mindset, properly, will be to make up that ground, not to recede (though that strategy has failed the Mariners spectacularly in recent years).
Ultimately, the success of Jerry Dipoto's regime will be determined by the success of those multitudes of incremental decisions a GM makes.
All one needs to do is examine the familiar litany of top-10 draft picks that haven't worked out for Seattle _ Jeff Clement instead of Troy Tulowitzki, Ryan Braun or Andrew McCutchen in 2005; Brandon Morrow instead of Andrew Miller, Clayton Kershaw, Tim Lincecum or Max Scherzer in 2006; Phillippe Aumont instead of Josh Donaldson in 2007; Dustin Ackley instead of Mike Trout in 2009; Danny Hultzen instead of Trevor Bauer, Anthony Rendon, Francisco Lindor, George Springer or Sonny Gray in 2011; Mike Zunino instead of Addison Russell or Corey Seager in 2012; Alex Jackson instead of Michael Conforto, Trea Turner or Brandon Finnegan in 2014 _ to see how vital such singular decisions can be when taken cumulatively.
Those were all from different regimes, ones that had their share of bad trades and signings to contribute to the Mariners' ongoing malaise. It remains to be seen if Dipoto and his brain trust will make enough right moves to end this 40-year, or even the 15-year, pursuit.
Hey, if the Cubs can do it, anyone can. Eventually.
