Seager wants Mariners to add at deadline: 'It has to be about winning'
From 100-loss seasons to heartbreaking eliminations, Kyle Seager's seen just about everything in Seattle - except for a playoff game at T-Mobile Park. He's ready for that to change.
The Mariners' surprising surge continued Sunday with a 4-3 win over the Oakland Athletics that moved them within 1 1/2 games of a wild-card spot. With the trade deadline less than a week away, Seager sees this as the right moment to end the rebuild and push to end the club's 19-year playoff drought.
"Like I've said in the past, at some point, it has to be about winning," Seager said, according to Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. "That's the goal of baseball. You don't necessarily always want to be playing for rebuilds.
"Especially for me, kind of where I'm at, I want to be playing for something bigger than myself. I want to be playing for something big and you can feel how much the city is just starving for it. You can see it with the fans."
The Mariners' postseason drought stretches back to 2001 and is the longest active dry spell in the four major North American sports leagues. They've made just five postseason appearances in their 44-year history - all between 1995 and 2001 - and are the lone franchise without a World Series appearance.
Seager, 33, has been with the Mariners for nearly half of the drought. On Sunday, he played in his 1,419th career game, by far the most among active position players without a playoff appearance.
The Mariners are reportedly interested in Kansas City Royals second baseman/outfielder Whit Merrifield and were also apparently chasing Adam Frazier before he was dealt to the San Diego Padres on Sunday.
"You want people to believe in you. You want them to feel like we're doing a good job and that this is a team to go for it," Seager said. "I think it's been preached about this rebuild so much, but I mean we're right there on the edge of this thing. So certainly you would like to have them make moves and get the team as good as we possibly can.
"And ... me personally, I mean, good lord, I'd like to make a run out of it."