It is widely understood at this point that podcasting is a blight on the land, and one that may be directly traceable to the once-slow but now seemingly-accelerating decline of western civilization. That said, with the Mariners leading the Blue Jays 2-0 in the ALCS The Blight Bat has no choice but to continue on.

FORTUNATELY the inherent harm of the medium has been, at least today, mostly alleviated by the presence of Jordan Shusterman of Yahoo Sports and the Baseball Bar-b-cast Podcast. Mere moments from hopping a flight to Seattle to bask in the long-awaited dominance of our Seattle Mariners, Jordan hops on with us to talk about the team, Josh Naylor’s unexpected delights, the vibes/analytics duality, and the inherent insanity of rooting for a team that starts its games at 10 PM your time.

Jordan is the best, entirely more gracious than I deserve, and I could not be more grateful for his time. Check out the podcast, read his work, and THRIVE.

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What a week of podcasting it has been, and what a grand finale we have for you with today’s show.

An ensemble episode welcomes Jage, who you know from recapping Jerry Dipoto’s radio shows back in 2022-2023 AKA: HELL. Also joining the show from Locked on Mariners is Ty Dane Gonzalez. Rounding out our, uh, roundtable is the show’s resident Montanian (Montanan? Montanite? Montsman?) Ben Ranieri from the Sea Level newsletter.

A lively show touches on what level of validation the Mariners front office should feel over 2025, and if it is enough for us to shed our frustration and cynicism about this org moving forward. We also break down how the Mariners could/should slot together their rotation for the ALDS, and which of the presumptive four most gives us the ick.

Everyone loves it when the boys are back in town, but what nobody ever talks about is that for it to occur the boys first need a foundational gathering in town to come back to. My hope is this episode lays just such a foundation. Many thanks to Jage, Ty, and Ben for their time. Support their work, folks.

Thanks as always for listening!

The Light Bat is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

These are unfamiliar times for Mariner fans. With the team enjoying not only its sixth-ever playoff appearance, but also its first ever playoff bye, we are unmoored and untethered from ourselves. Into this space between our souls and terra firma we gratefully find the 2025 New York Mets; not the Mariners we deserve or the Mariners that we have, but the Mariners we need.

To discuss the Mets, and the Mariners, and how a century of intense analysis and study can sometimes boil down to one team simply having juice and the other being juiceless, David Roth of Defector Media re-joins the show.

How do the Mets, with a payroll approximately the size of the GDP of at least one of Trinidad or Tobago, post a 21-36 record in August and September? How do the Mariners, careening towards Yet Another Mariners Season into the season’s final weeks, become an unbeatable colossus? What does any of it mean? Does any of it mean anything?

Also, why stories matter in the Cal Vs. Judge MVP Race, and we ceremoniously conscript David into God’s Army of Mariner Fans for the remainder of the season.

We hope you are enjoying Podcast Week at the Light Bat. We’ll have one more episode Thursday or Friday to get you ready for the unthinkable: Mariner home playoff games.