I’ve got a devil and an angel whispering in my ears, and

By Seth Kolloen • August 25, 2014 9:26 am
Photo by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren / Seattle Weekly
Photo by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren / Seattle Weekly

I’ve got a devil and an angel whispering in my ears, and I’m not sure which is which. The debate: whether to queue up now for Mariners season tickets in 2015.

Here’s the situation: If you plunk down a $500 deposit toward 2015 season tickets, the M’s guarantee the right to buy tickets for all 2014 postseason games. The catch? The $500 is per seat and non-refundable.

The angel (or is he the devil?) says: Seth, be realistic. You really think that a team starting Endy Chavez in the outfield is going to hold off Detroit for the last wild-card spot? The Mariners are going to collapse in September, so you’ll be heartbroken and out $500.

The devil (or is it the angel?): Hold on—the Mariners may have a weak offense, but they have one of the best pitching staffs of the past 50 years. They are second in the majors in run differential, so their record is no fluke. You’ve been waiting 13 years for the Mariners to make the playoffs—you’re really going to let $500 stand in the way of seeing them?

Angel: It’s not just $500. The M’s are asking for full payment for the entire possible playoff run—at least another $1,500 up front.

Devil: Whatever the cost, you’ll want to be at those games. You might end up spending way more than $1,500 buying the tickets from StubHub, and you’ll probably have worse seats. This would be only the fifth time the M’s have made the playoffs. And just dream with me for a second: Say the M’s make it into the playoffs and scrape out the 12 wins they’d need to be World Series champions.

Angel: Oh, come on.

Devil: Everyone will want season tickets, and, even though you’ve lived and died with the Mariners for 37 years, you’ll be at the back of the line behind some transplanted Amazon executive who discovered his love for baseball in mid-October.

Angel: Jeff Bezos would never spend $500 on speculative baseball tickets.

Devil: Jeff Bezos spent $42 million on a clock in the desert.

As you can see, I’ve got a difficult choice to make. But the more the M’s keep winning, the easier it gets.

sportsball@seattlweekly.com