The Mariners’ 1-0 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers tonight has me questioning how much of baseball really is a team sport and even my own conceptions of history and academia. Let me explain.
There are many different frameworks historians use to understand history, both the subject and the discipline. Two of the most famous competing theories are the Great Man theory and the People’s History. To the proponents of Great Man Theory, such as Scottish historian Thomas Carlyle, who coined the term in 1840,
“the history of the world is but the biography of great men.” To Carlyle, the world was shaped by almost supernatural heroes who possessed from birth certain attributes that made them titans among petty men. They also had the good fortune to be born into circumstances to allow them to rise to greatness.
While I personally do not support Great Man Theory, and neither do most serious historians, I must admit that it makes for compelling stories. Shakespeare did not write a play called “The end of the Roman Social Republic.” He wrote “Julius Caesar” and “Antony and Cleopatra.”
And so, to finally bring it back to baseball, I find myself drawn to a Great Man style of storytelling for tonight’s game. While some games, such as the previous series against the Astros featuring two hard-fought wins are a People’s History, tonight was the realm of great men.
Tonight there were three. A triumvirate, if you will. First among heroes was Logan Gilbert, the starting pitcher. Gilbert has not had an easy time 2025. Following an injury that briefly had him on the injured list, he’s not been able to replicate his previous dominance. Before tonight he only had one quality start on the year out of 14. And that was all the way back on Opening Day. And the Brewers had previously been a thorn in his side, giving up 4 earned runs in both of his previous starts against them.
And yet Greatness does not stay buried for long. It yearns to reveal itself, especially through hardship. In tonight’s game, Logan Gilbert broke the hearts and the spirits of the Milwaukee hitters, announcing his intentions early by striking out the side in order in the first inning.
And he kept setting them down in order. Until the fifth inning every Brewer that stepped up to the plate was sent packing back to the dugout. Jackson Chourio finally broke up the no-hitter and perfect game in the fifth with a line drive single, but didn’t get any further than second base as Walter set down each of the next three hitters. Christian Yelich would pick up a single himself, his fourth career hit off of Gilbert, but would have the same luck in scoring as Chourio.
After the game, the man himself had this to say: “More than anything, our plan and execution was good, and it helps to see something like that and know that’s who I am when I’m at my best. Getting ahead, keeping the ball down, slider/splitter down, working in the curve, that’s our plan, that’s when I’m at my best, and it still works. Just keep it boring and execute over and over.”
There are many adjectives I could use to describe this level of pitching, but “boring” is not one of them.
To keep with the pitching theme, our second hero is a man who no one has ever described as boring: Andrés Muñoz. With a narrow 1-0 lead in the top of the ninth inning, the Mariners turned to their All-Star closer to get the job done. And Muñoz, who doesn’t know what to do with himself when there isn’t pressure on him, made it more exciting by walking two batters, ratcheting the tension even higher.
But he is made for the big moment. The Brewers had won 11 games in a row before tonight’s game. They were the hottest team in baseball and everyone knew they wouldn’t go down without a fight. But Andrés is built for the fight. With two on and two out, he sent an 85 mph slider towards the plate, 13 mph slower than the previous pitch. It caught maybe too much plate, but Andrew Vaughn might not have been ready for the change of pace. He chopped it over to Ben Williamson at third, who fielded it on the second hop, and slung it over to second for the force out to end the game. Andrés, warrior that he is, didn’t hesitate to make his feelings known.
But who gave him that one-run lead in the first place? Who’s the third hero of tonight’s game? Of course, its none other than the man hugging Muñoz in that video, perpetual hero Cal Raleigh.
For one, it was Cal who called and caught for both Gilbert and Muñoz. The catcher has a preternatural ability to lead his pitchers through games, an attribute we can credit to his vociferous studying. He gets to the ballpark before anyone else to work out and warm up, but also to study the swings and tendencies of the opposing hitters.
And on top of that, as if that wasn’t enough, he also happens to be the best home run hitter in Major League Baseball. That solitary run the Mariners scored? You already know how. You don’t need me to tell you.
Do you know how great you have to be for MLB to start counting your home runs in the video thumbnail?
His manager, Dan Wilson, couldn’t say enough good things about Cal after the game. “I really thought that was an outstanding at-bat when you look at the whole approach of the at-bat. He battled and waited for a pitch he could drive, and you kind of got that sense he wanted to be the guy in the big moment tonight. And he was, and he delivered.”
Deliver is all Cal does. With this 39th home run, he ties Ken Griffey Jr. for the most home runs through a Mainers player’s first 5 seasons. And he has 61 more games to go.
Baseball is a team sport. Individual heroics aren’t supposed to matter. The Mariners had six seasons of Ken Griffey Jr. before they made the playoffs. They made the playoffs only once more in the 1990s, despite having some of the best players in history at their respective positions. We’ve learned this lesson the hard way.
And yet. Sometimes, for a few fleeting moments, the sport is about the player instead of the team.
Occasionally, greatness asserts itself.
More from lookoutlanding.com:
- 40 in 40: Mike Leake
- Mariners Moose Tracks, 1/1/18: New Year, Edgar Martinez, and J.D. Martinez
- Mariner Moose Tracks, 12/31/17: Edgar Martinez, Barry Bonds, and Sandy Koufax
- Mariners Moose Tracks, 12/30/17: Edgar Martinez, Miguel Sano, and Wade Davis
- Jerry Dipoto doesn’t care about your fan theories
- Sporcle Friday: Most Walks in a Season
- Mariners Moose Tracks, 12/28/17: 4MOM, Jose Altuve, and Michael Fulmer
