Though the Seattle Mariners never seriously threatened to make a playoff push, it took them 156 games before they were eliminated from the postseason.
The expected happened in Game 156 Sunday when they lost for the fifth time in a row, a 3-2 defeat to the Los Angeles Angels, as LA completed the three-game sweep to keep alive hopes of capturing the second American League Wild Card.
Right-hander Hisashi Iwakuma continued to pitch well, allowing three runs and eight hits over 7 1/3 innings, but reliever Carson Smith gave up a go-ahead RBI single to Kole Calhoun in the eighth, driving in a run that was charged to Iwakuma (9-5), who suffered the loss.