George Ferguson: Congrats Div, You finally made it to the postseason

If you love baseball, or hell, even if you just love a feel-good sports story, then the Seattle Mariners are for you.

The Mariners made the playoffs for the first time since 2001. Yup, for Mariners’ fans, of which there are many in our coverage area, that’s a long, agonizing 21 years.

Seattle, however, didn’t just thrill their fans all season long, no, the Mariners not only made the postseason as an American League Wildcard team, but then they went on the road and swept the Toronto Blue Jays in a best-of-three Wildcard series over the weekend. And it wasn’t just a sweep either. The Mariners stormed back from an 8-1 deficit Saturday to win, and advance to the ALDS.

Again, it’s a great story, whether you’re a Mariners’ fan or not.

And the story, for me, runs even deeper. That’s because someone who’s helping to narrate the Mariners’ magical run this postseason is someone we’re all familiar with.

Havre’s very own Ryan Divish is the longtime beat writer for the Mariners at the award-winning Seattle Times. He’s covered the Mariners as well as anybody has during his tenure, and in my opinion, is one of the best daily beat writers in all of baseball, and considering I’ve been a sports editor for nearly as long, I feel I’m pretty qualified to make that judgement.

But, as good as Ryan is at his job, and as great as the content he produces on the daily is, this time of year, Ryan has been left out of the postseason party.

Thanks to Seattle’s inept management in the front office at times, and even when the Mariners were good, and had a few close calls, the Mariners had never made the postseason during Ryan’s time at the Times.

So, for years, when the regular season was over, so was Ryan’s daily coverage of the Mariners. In other words, the party went on without him.

Until Saturday night in Toronto.

Not only did the Mariners advance to the second round of the playoffs, they did it in historic, and dramatic fashion, and Ryan was there to tell the tale.

Finally, Ryan got to cover a postseason series with Seattle. Finally, he got to experience the ultimate highs of major league’ baseball’s most coveted time of year. Finally, Ryan got to see the traditional postseason celebration at both the pitcher’s mound and the classics champagne pouring in the locker room. Finally, Div got to tell a Seattle Mariners’ postseason story.

And it’s not over yet.

Many pundits won’t give the Mariners much of a chance against their hated rival, the Houston Astros in the best-of-five ALDS this week. Honestly, I don’t even know if Div would pick the Mariners to advance.

At this point, though, it doesn’t really matter because Ryan has finally got to cover and tweet and write and talk about postseason baseball. Ryan is a great reporter and a top-notch beat writer so this was a long time coming, and I, for one, am glad he’s telling the Mariners’ incredible postseason journey. And whether it comes to an end in Houston, or goes deeper into October, this season is one the Mariners, and their fans will never forget, and those of us who follow it in print media are lucky we had Ryan to cover the ride.