THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: Now that drought is over, what's next for M's

Seven.

Thousand.

Six.

Hundred.

Forty.

Eight.

Perhaps you are a numerologist, or there’s a chance you’ve read that number somewhere.

In either case (or maybe staring at it means nothing to you at the moment), you’ll forgive any members of the Mariners who hurry out and get that number tattooed on their forearms.

Or somewhere, let’s say, even more personal.

Why not?

Last Friday night, the club consigned 7,648 to history — representing, as it did, the number of days between Mike Cameron’s line drive to right field that ended the 2001 American League Championship Series, and Cal Raleigh’s monstrous ninth-inning home run that returned Seattle to postseason baseball.

Raleigh’s pinch-hit bomb to beat Oakland 2-1 was pure drama, but only in how it happened.

Not when.

If the Mariners hadn’t won that night, they had six games remaining to lock up an AL wild-card entry — either with a single victory of their own, or with the Orioles losing just one of their final six games.

In other words …

After all that time, it was coming.

Finally.

YOU CAN hardly blame Mariners fans for avoiding any thought besides clinching a wild-card spot.

I mean, ending “The Drought” had become a mission of its own, something that had come to define Seattle baseball.

In those 7,648 days since the 2001 playoffs, there have been four U.S. presidents.

The iPhone was invented.

And so on.

So, forgive Mariners loyalists throughout the Northwest and elsewhere for not spending a lot of time on this year’s potential destinations or possible pitching matchups.

Getting out of baseball’s Sahara had begun to feel like a championship all by itself.

When those giddy, dancing, champagne-spraying players at last achieved it, I actually found myself wondering what it would say on the T-shirts being tossed to everyone on the roster.

As manager Scott Servais said, before and after Raleigh’s blessed bomb, “We haven’t won anything yet.”

Celebratory hats and shirts are usually saved for pennant-clinchers or World Series triumphs.

Instead, the current Mariners received shirts that said: “October Rise 2022.”

The message conveyed happiness, yet enough humility, to mark the occasion.

Perhaps two simple words might have been more appropriate…

“It’s Over!”

Now that the drought has been consigned to the dustbin of history, though, what’s next?

We know that, barring a miracle, the Mariners will play all three games of the wild-card round (assuming three are necessary) away from raucous T-Mobile Park.

As I type this, the overwhelming likelihood is that they will be the No. 5 seed and be headed to Toronto.

YES, THERE remain some scenarios where the Mariners could open at Central Division champ Cleveland.

A miracle finish, assuming the Blue Jays lose all three at Baltimore and the Mariners win out at home against Detroit, would bring the wild-card round to Seattle — but that’s the longest shot now.

In any event, the Mariners WILL officially end the drought with a wild-card game on Friday.

It’s actually time to wonder who will pitch in this first playoff series.

Servais has suggested that his current rotation will stay on schedule, which would put Luis Castillo, Robbie Ray and George Kirby in line to start in a three-game series.

That’s certainly not a group to give you a serious case of nerves — but it would mean skipping Logan Gilbert, who might be the club’s best starter at the moment (and who pitched a brilliant eight innings in that Friday win over Oakland).

Servais still might fiddle with the rotation order — say, skipping Gilbert’s final regular-season start to rest him for a playoff assignment.

If that happens, it probably would come at the expense of Kirby, the least experienced of the starters — and a guy who has pitched way, way more innings this season than at any time in his short career.

Postseason games generally are characterized by excellent pitching (especially once teams get to their bullpens) and more often than not, decided by home runs.

Gilbert has allowed just one long ball in his last nine starts, which almost has to be on Servais’ mind.

The Mariners, despite their low seeding, could be a dangerous team in the playoffs.

“We have great pitching depth, and we’re just wired for it,” Servais said, mindful of Seattle’s 33 one-run victories in 2021 and 32 more this season.

Working out pitching plans and assessing matchups like this is part of the postseason rush.

It’s a hell of a lot more fun than saying…

“Let’s wait 7,648 days and do this again.”

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Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”