M's closing with a familiar finish

Momentum is a funny thing in sports sometimes.

One day, a team could be playing so well that it seems as if nothing can go wrong.

Other days, fans just might be thankful if the team can escape without suffering any injuries.

Which kind of sums up the season in a nutshell for the Seattle Mariners.

EARLY ON, this seemed like the year for the Mariners to finally break through and advance.

Things are finishing with a thud.

It hasn’t been pretty.

For the record, Seattle had been a fun team to watch this year, mainly because of Edwin Diaz, who is chasing the all-time saves record this year.

Diaz entered the weekend series with 54 saves on the season, just eight away from the major league record of 62 set by Francisco Rodriguez in 2008.

Earlier this year, Seattle manager Scott Servais made Diaz a deal — get at least 50 saves (which he accomplished on Aug. 25), and he’d get a haircut to mirror Diaz.

It has been since that point that Seattle lost its momentum.

Since that series in Arizona, Seattle had lost 15 of 20 games, falling totally out of contention for an American League wild card, which almost seemed like a lock a few months ago.

Players have been hurt, such as James Paxton and Jean Segura, who had All-Star seasons to get the team to this point.

Meanwhile, Hisashi Iwakuma — who missed the entire season for the Mariners — had more of an impact during Everett’s Northwest League playoff run in Class A this year.

WHATEVER HAPPENS this offseason, it will be an interesting one for the Mariners.

Eventually, they might have to make a decision about Robinson Cano — whether he’ll go back to playing every day at second base, or play somewhere else.

Seattle was better with Dee Gordon at second base as Cano sat during his 80-game suspension, so moving Cano to first base full time isn’t that farfetched in 2019.

Within the starting rotation, chances are that the team will also have to make a decision with Felix Hernandez. After getting demoted to the bullpen for a week, Hernandez returned to the rotation, albeit when Paxton got hurt, and hasn’t been too bad in a few starts.

And for all that Nelson Cruz has done in Seattle, his time could be up real soon as he’ll be a free agent when the season ends.

Hopefully Cruz re-signs with the team, as he’s been one of the biggest reasons to tune into games, no matter what the score is.

Maybe the Mariners can steal a little momentum heading into next season and ruin some other team’s season in the process.

And give their fans a reason to tune back in when the time comes again.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at (208) 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @JECdAPress.