Another October is here, and as usual, the Seattle Mariners players are beginning their vacations. Seattle's attention is turning to football of both the professional and amateur variety, but there are still some exciting baseball postseason series going on. Even more exciting is the fact that there's a healthy number of ex-Mariners represented in both leagues, fighting it out for their respective pennants.
In the ALCS, both the Texas Rangers and the Detroit Tigers boast four one-time Mariners on their 40-man rosters. The biggest name of the bunch is obviously the Rangers' superstar third baseman Adrian Beltre, who alone may or may not be enough to sway you into rooting for the Tigers. Rangers catcher Yorvit Torrealba, outfielder Endy Chavez and pitcher Mark Lowe both wore the compass at one time, although Lowe is currently inactive.
Over on the Detroit side, Doug Fister is the feel-good Mariners story of the year. Unfortunately, it's because he was sent to Detroit mid-season and became a key component in putting the Tigers over the top to clinch the AL Central. Former M's Carlos Guillen and David Pauley are not currently on the postseason roster, and infielder Ramon Santiago spent some time with Seattle in 2004 and 2005.
The National League pennant is less well-represented by former Mariners, but the Cardinals have lefty Arthur Rhodes throwing for them.
On the Brewers side, one of the more pleasantly surprising stories of this young postseason has been the clutch extra-base hitting of ex-Mariner Yuniesky Betancourt. He was responsible for delivering a key two-run homer in Game One of the NLCS on Sunday, which put the Brewers on top of the Cards for good.
Just remember there's a lot of baseball left to be played this year, and some of your old favorites may still be worth cheering for. But then again, there's always next year.