Going (Strategically) Insane About Baseball

Join me as I shake off the long, dark winter by following my beloved Mariners all over the country as they strive for their first-ever World Series... or even just making the playoffs ⚾ 🔱

Hi! I’m Sarah Enni, an award-winning senior producer for the Scamfluencers podcast, co-host of the On the Bleachers podcast, author of Tell Me Everything, and creator of the First Draft Podcast (on hiatus). This is my newsletter, and this summer it’s going to be about something very specific: essays about traveling all over the country to watch my favorite baseball team, the Seattle Mariners. And about home, and losing, and community, and eking out joy wherever we can find it.

But first… why?

via Mariners on X

Like pretty much everyone, I had a hard winter. Since November, an assignment for Scamfluencers had me trapped in a rabbit hole. I spent New Year’s Eve at home, watching Jurassic Park and reading a 600-page book about the rise and fall of Michael Milken, the Junk Bond King. (You can listen to that episode now!)

All my work on the Milken script was delaying what I needed to be working on: a memoir about my dad. When he died in 2008, I inherited his fantasy football team. I’m still in the league today, with my uncle and a bunch of my Dad’s closest friends. This will be the league’s 40th season. Writing something so deeply personal is frightening. I threw myself curve balls that impeded progress—subconsciously, mostly. But I was entering a phase that other creators might be familiar with: the need to write something so badly that it grips the body like an illness. 

Then, just a few days into January, Los Angeles was engulfed in flames. I live just a few miles from the Eaton fire, which razed an entire neighborhood in a matter of hours and caused billions in damages. I evacuated with some friends to Orange County. Five days later, I returned home. The next day, Trump was inaugurated. Eager to disassociate, I got really into The Good Wife. I watched the entire show–seven seasons of a network television show–in about a month.

When baseball season rolled around, I was ready for a healthier distraction. One that involved sunshine, and connection, and an endeavor where everyone agreed on the rules and worked their damnedest to follow them. Then I fell into a hookup for very, very cheap flights. So I decided to go see the Mariners play. Like, a lot.

This summer, I am going strategically insane about baseball. And I’m gonna share it with all of you.

THE SEATTLE MARINERS

I’m a fan of the Seattle Mariners. I was born in Tacoma, and most of my family is still scattered around Puget Sound. You’ve got to be born this way; it’s not a fate anyone would choose. The Mariners have been a franchise since 1977. In that time, we’ve accrued a .477 win-loss record, with just 5 playoff appearances. Zero pennants. We’re the only franchise in Major League Baseball with no World Series appearances. Not wins—appearances.

But! We’re the team of Ken Griffey, Jr., and Ichiro. We invented hating Alex Rodriguez! Our current manager, Dan Wilson, was a beloved catcher for us from 1994 to 2005. And our hitting coach is Hall of Famer Edgar Martinez, who was our designated hitter from 1987 to 2004—we named the street our stadium is on after him. And this year, we’re off to a really hot start. As of this writing, we’re leading our division.

Seattle is the league’s perpetual underdog. And when—not if, when—our time comes, the entire world will be behind us. It’ll be the feel-good to end all feel-good. So please come with me as I follow the lads all over the country and tell you their stories, and mine.

Welcome to The Enni Way. I hope you stick around.

                                    ⚾ 🔱

At the end of these, I’m going to include some links to things I’m working on and other distractions I recommend.

🗣️ As I mentioned, you can listen to the Michael Milken episode of Scamfluencers now!

🎵 I’m also going to shamelessly plug my Winter 2025 playlist. It might have been stressful as hell, but I found a lot of good music.

📚 The book I’m reading now (Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams) is good but distressing. (Everyone who works at Facebook: as bad as you think they are!) I’m excited to finish it so I can finally get to Jennifer E. Smith’s latest, Fun For the Whole Family!