On Wednesday, Victor Robles was hit by a Luis Gil pitch, and jogged at the mound—to give Gil a half-hug. After a couple of walks and flyouts, Robles made his way to third. And with the bases loaded, two outs, and Justin Turner working Gil to a 3-0 count, Robles took off for home as Gil reached for his rosin bag, and was easily caught stealing to end the inning. It was the complete Robles experience. Here's a lovable guy with enough pathos to befriend a wild praying mantis, and also a guy who will follow it up with one of the worst base-running experiences you've ever witnessed, all within the very first inning of the game. The Mariners went on to lose 11-2, which is one point in Robles's defense: It probably wouldn't have mattered anyway.
On Thursday, the Mariners were tied 1-1 with the Yankees when, in the bottom of the 10th inning, Randy Arozarena struck out swinging on a dropped third strike. His bat went sailing over the third-base line and nearly took out Julio Rodríguez, who danced out of the way and then forgot that the ball was still in play. He took a wide jog about the base, turning to the dugout, while Jazz Chisholm Jr. stood on base and called for the ball. It took a few beats for Yankees catcher Austin Wells to make the throw, but Rodríguez was still doubled off easily. The Mariners went on to lose this game, 2-1.
There is a nice rhythm to putting Robles and Rodríguez's names together, like on an injury law firm billboard, but that's about as much entertainment you can get out of the moment as a Mariners fan. In Rodríguez's defense, it does make a bit of sense to go blank after a teammate's bat sails directly toward you, which does not happen all that often. “Honestly,” Rodríguez said, “I just saw a bat flying out to my face and I just ran away from it. After that, just a little bit of shock and I didn’t get back on third base on time.” The Yankees broadcast also seemed to forget that play was still going on, cutting to show the bat forlornly sitting in the grass, even as Wells took off toward third. By the time they cut back to Rodríguez, he was already out.
The Mariners went into 2024 preoccupied with how they make outs. Cutting down on strikeouts was a primary goal. (It did not work.) Baserunning is rarely at the forefront of team decision-making processes, in part because compared to hitting or even defense, it doesn't actually generate that much value: Corbin Carroll, the best baserunner in the league, has earned approximately eight runs on the basepaths, while Aaron Judge has earned over four times that purely by hitting four-seamers. But bad base-running incidents are memorable. Rodríguez grades out to an average baserunner, which is disappointing considering his raw speed, but not as egregiously poor as he will be remembered for this moment; Robles hasn't played enough games to qualify for statistical metrics this season, but he would be slightly above average.
Alas, the Mariners will not be making the playoffs, no matter if FanGraphs says they have a 2.9 percent chance. Which means, in turn, that either it is time to think about Jerry Dipoto—whose biggest moves so far this season have been measured and mostly justifiable, but entirely uninspiring ones: inking Robles to a contract extension, trading for Randy Arozarena, and firing Scott Servais—or fixate on how the players on the team are closing out the season. And frankly, though all of my optimism is now out of the window, I'm still trying my best not to think too hard about Dipoto, which requires forging new neural pathways to really conceptualize his approach to improving a baseball team, but comes at the cost of a headache.
The back-to-back baserunning gaffes of Robles and Rodríguez matter, not because they cost the Mariners the season, but because they were public and embarrassing at a point in the season that no longer matters. An important lesson has been learned here: Never have hope.
