With one game remaining in the regular season, the Mariners find themselves still in the fight for playoff contention.  With last night’s 2-1 extra inning victory over the Anaheim Angels, coupled with the Oakland Athletics’ 5-4 loss to the Texas Rangers, Seattle sits just one game behind the A’s for the second wild card.  A Seattle win today along with an Oakland loss will force a one game playoff between the two teams to see which one goes on to play the Kansas City Royals in the wild card loser-out game.

What once looked like a plausible – perhaps even likely -playoff appearance by a red hot Mariners club fresh off a 17-10 August, quickly dissipated as Seattle sputtered down the stretch to a 13-13 September.  But after losing 2 of 3 games from the Houston Astros and then the first 3 of 4 games against the Toronto Blue Jays last week – all but eliminating any hope of the playoffs – the Mariners rattled off three straight wins to keep alive their mathematical chance of extending their season into October.

And despite his team fading down the stretch faster than bleach on denim, manager Lloyd McClendon is garnering Manager of the Year recognition, with some forecasting that he may, in fact, even win it.

And why not?  All McClendon has done is guide the Mariners to an 86-75 record, a 17 game improvement in the win column from just a year ago.  Which, to say, is pretty remarkable considering the Mariners entered the season with only two proven starting pitchers, a questionable bullpen, and a lineup void of a legitimate center fielder, a leadoff hitter, and one more needed middle of the order bat to compliment  Robinson Cano and Kyle Seager.   And if that wasn’t enough, starting pitchers Hisashi Iwakuma, Taijuan Walker and James Paxton, along with sluggers Corey Hart and Logan Morrison, all spent significant time on the disabled list during the early part of the year.

And yet, despite all the setbacks, the Mariners find themselves on the cusp of making the playoffs for the first time since 2001.

But this isn’t to say McClendon hasn’t made mistakes along the way.  Like all managers, gaffes have occurred.  But McClendon’s miscues have not just been of the customary kind that you find all managers guilty of.  They haven’t merely been of the “leaving a pitching in one batter too long” variety, or letting a hitter swing away rather than lay down a sacrifice bunt.   Rather, they’ve been odd and unorthodox decisions that – in a tight wild card race – can make the difference between a team watching the playoffs from the couch rather than from the field.

We’ve previously covered most of the questionable early season decisions by McClendon, namely: giving rookie Abraham Almonte the starting center field and lead off jobs at the start of Spring Training, believing Justin Smoak was the next coming of Mark Grace at first base, and choosing to play Logan Morrison over Michael Saunders in right field. The negligible offensive production and diminished defensive capabilities resulting from those decisions would contribute to the team’s tepid 11-14 start.

After displacing Almonte with fellow rookie James Jones in center field, and replacing Smoak at first base with Morrison, the Mariners would find their groove, going 62-48 over the next four months and inserting themselves into the playoff conversation.  McClendon was quick to deflect all credit to his players, repeatedly describing his managerial style as a hands-off, game by game “players make out the lineup card” approach.

But come the middle of August, that style would change.  Come mid August, McClendon would begin to tinker.

The hands-off approach that worked miracles to get the Mariners into playoff contention suddenly was replaced by “managing for October,” McClendon’s plan of resting his starting pitchers by skipping starts and using spot-starters to fill in.   Despite admitting that juggling his rotation in this manner could have an ill-effect on the routines of his pitchers, McClendon was adamant doing so would keep his pitchers fresh for the end of September stretch drive, and (as a side benefit) align his pitchers accordingly for the playoffs.

Now, rotation maneuvering of this kind is not uncommon, and is usually a smart thing to do.  That is, a smart thing to do for teams already having secured a spot in the playoffs.  But with nearly six weeks of the season remaining and both wild cards still up for grabs between five teams, managing with an eye fixated so far down the road is, well, puzzling.  Some might even say it breaks one of the basic tenets of managing.

At first, the plan seemed to work.  McClendon pushed back Hernandez to face the wild card contending Blue Jays on August 11^th, and used Erasmo Ramirez to spot-start against the White Sox.  Despite a shaky four innings from Ramirez, the Mariners would defeat Chicago, and Hernandez would dominate Toronto and spark a three-game sweep of the Blue Jays.

But McClendon’s fears about the extra days rest began to bear fruit.

Despite the win, Hernandez would fall into a slump over his next three starts, going 0-2, allowing 10 earned runs in 17.1 innings, and a .948 OPS against.

Hernandez’s struggles didn’t stop McClendon from juggling his rotation once more, pushing Hernandez back to face the Nationals on August 29^th and, again, using Ramirez to spot-start against the Rangers.   Unlike before, however, Seattle would lose both games.  Compounding matters, Chris Young would labor with his release point in the proceeding series opener against the Athletics, lasting less than an inning in route to a 6-1 loss, and Iwakuma would go winless in his next four starts, allowing 18 earned runs in 17.1 innings and attributing his poor pitching to feeling “off-balance” with his mechanics.

McClendon’s tinkering wasn’t just limited to his starting rotation.  The September call-ups saw the return of Smoak, Jones, and Stefan Romero to the big leagues.  All three players had been demoted to Class AAA earlier in the season: Smoak for losing his starting job to Morrison, and rookies Romero and Jones for showing neither was ready to face major league pitching.  Yet, shortly after being recalled, Smoak, Jones and Romero would find themselves in the starting lineup, raising eye brows among many as to how three players previously not worthy enough to be on the 25-man roster were now starting in the heat of the playoff chase.  The decision failed to pay dividends as all three remained offensive liabilities, and an offense that had scored an average of 4.6 runs per game in August slipped to 3.5 runs per game in September.

As Bert Lance famously stated, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”  And that probably would have been sage advice for McClendon to have followed with merely 6 weeks remaining in the season and his team playing its best baseball of the season.  Arguably, several of McClendon’s atypical decisions cost his team wins they could not afford to lose.

But McClendon has guided his team beyond expectations, and the fact the Mariners remain in contention on the final day of the season speaks volumes towards the job he has done in his first year at the helm.   At the same time, however, his unorthodox managing – especially down the stretch – may have cost his team a chance at playing in October.  And that, rightfully so or not, may prevent McClendon from taking home the hardware for Manager of the Year.