Eighty-one and eighty-one won the AL West. All we had to do was be perfectly mid, and we finished five games under that as the preseason AL favorite. Most Mariners thing that has ever happened. In hindsight the WBC handshake drama between Randy and Cal was the tell. If a handshake can throw off your mojo in March, it was never going to be the year.

Dan Wilson is out, and we think it comes down to leadership. His hands-off, let-the-players-lead approach worked when Cal was having an unbelievable season and the roster took care of itself. It fell apart once Cal got hurt and nobody was steering. The club told him the Friday before the finale and let him make the announcement himself, which he earned. The next hire has to have managed before, and Lovullo is already off the board. We both believe that if they pull a Red Sox and make the change in June, we are playing a playoff game tonight.

The defense was the ugliest part. Julio's no-fly zone is gone and the mental mistakes piled up, including playing catch with a fan with two outs. Randy's problem was effort, like the fly ball he gave up on in Tampa while Castillo stared a hole through him. He also led baseball in runs, and we doubt he's back at any price. Cole Young and his plus-16 defensive runs saved was the only plus glove on the roster. Perry Hill, Eric Young Jr. and Kevin Seitzer are all gone so the new manager can bring his own staff.

September was supposed to be the easy part. Instead a 42-year-old diced us up in Toronto, the A's walked us off twice in Sacramento, and we lost five of seven to them.

Deadline grade: one for two. Dominguez was solid after a rough first outing. Taylor Ward led the league in walks, got traded here and became the worst hitter in baseball. Alex Hoppe, the arm we gave up, looked good in Baltimore. At least Castillo is gone and we never have to say "piggyback" again. Also on the never-again list: Refsnyder, Connor Joe, Buddy Kennedy and the WBC. Brendan Donovan has not been seen since his August concussion and we would like proof of life. Meanwhile Ben Williamson is in the playoffs with Tampa while our third basemen let everything roll through.

The good stuff: Canzone refused to be a platoon guy and became the everyday three hitter. Cal was top ten in fWAR from mid-August on and still got to 23 homers. Randy's game against the Cubs had a leadoff homer, a robbed homer and a walk-off homer. Kade Anderson started to find it. Naylor stole 30 bags, somehow, and his missing power makes more sense now that he's had wrist surgery. Rick Rizzs got his goodbye, and we hope J.P. gets a better send-off than Kyle Seager did. Ryan Rowland-Smith hitting tanks in a Steve Irwin outfit was the best part of 50th anniversary weekend.

For next year, the big worry is Julio, who has gotten a little worse every season and is still Ryan's favorite player. We'd give Jerry one more manager cycle, and we wonder out loud how much say he really had in hiring Dan. The rotation should be fine if Kirby stays locked in and Gilbert stops chasing punchies.

Playoff picks: Rays out of the AL, and Braves over everybody, mostly because we refuse to watch another franchise win its first title before we do. We'll be back for a postseason recap and again when there's a manager. Thanks for sticking with us through a September we didn't want to talk about either.