At 55-31 and freshly minting what would be their longest win streak of the year, the Seattle Mariners were steaming into Independence Day. But the now-familiar narrative was building — without their best player, the Mariners were the team to root for, but they were overperforming. Eight straight games won by no more than 3 runs seemed to signal a season-long fairy tale or an inevitable collapse depending on your perspective, so while all eyes were on the Mariners that day, it’s understandable that not everyone was paying attention to Mike Leake.
Nearly 40,000 people came out to see the Mariners square off against the Angels on July 4th.