FPF: Mariner Memories Make Me Miss Mike Montgomery

With Gleyber Torres making his debut this week, I thought about the trade that sent him to the Yankees in the first place at the trade deadline in 2016. Aside from Brian Cashman using outrage over domestic violence charges for arbitrage and leaning in to all the negative parallels with the Dallas Cowboys, what I remember from Aroldis Chapman going to the Cubs was the consensus that the trade would be a failure unless Chapman threw the last out of the World Series. Chapman did not throw the last out of the World Series. In fact, he had a blown save and reduced his team's chances of winning by 29% per WPA in Game 7. The pitcher who threw the final pitch of Game 7 was the former Mariner who I have the softest spot in my heart for, Mike Montgomery, earning his first career save.

Montgomery was traded to the Mariners in March 2015 for Erasmo Ramirez, mostly because he still had minor-league options and Erasmo didn't. He was called up after James Paxton got injured to face the Yankees on June 2, 2015 and pitched a solid start, going 6 innings with one earned run, four strikeouts, and two very memorable walks. In the top of the 3rd inning, Yankees left fielder Brett Gardner checked his swing on a 3-2 count. Lloyd McClendon disagreed. Two batters later, Alex Rodriguez checked his swing on a 3-2 count. Mike Zunino and Lloyd McClendon very much disagreed. What followed was one of the most legendary managerial rants since games have been televised, as McClendon had a well-reasoned discussion about his differences in opinion with all four umpires. I had never seen a manager fight that hard for a player, and hopefully I'll never see it again. It was also a rare outburst of emotion from the normally pleasant Zunino. Both were ejected from the game and the Mariners lost.

The season was beginning to unravel for the Mariners. Felix Hernandez injured his ankle the game before and would never be the same again. A losing streak would cause GM Jack Zdurencik to panic and execute the odious Mark Trumbo trade after the series. One of the few bright spots in Mariners baseball that summer was Montgomery pitching back to back complete game shutouts. A former top prospect, expectations had decreased for him after struggling in AAA for both the Royals and Rays, but after seven starts in the majors, he had an ERA of 1.62. However, the Mariners can't have nice things, and he was back in the minors by September. Wade Miley and Nate Karns were acquired in the offseason, and Montgomery was forced to the bullpen in 2016, despite the pleadings of a very special commenter on this website.

Montgomery thrived as a reliever, but with the Mariners struggling near the trade deadline, he was sent to Chicago for Dan Vogelbach. I was sad to see him go, but watching Montgomery finish what had seemed impossible in a thrilling Game 7 might be my favorite postseason moment in the past 17 years. Montgomery has been moved back and forth from the rotation to the bullpen in Chicago, and while he's never been as good as he was for those fist seven starts, the Mariners really could have used him the past few years. Cubs fans might start getting irritating if they win again, but that won't stop me from rooting for Mike Montgomery.