SEATTLE — With the Mariners ending a 21-year playoff drought, for young fans, this is the first they’ve experienced the team in the postseason in their lifetime, fans like 18-year-old Preston Campbell.
Many of Campbell’s fondest childhood memories involve baseball.
“Being able to play baseball my entire life I mean, I just fell in love with the sport,” Campbell said.
The Seattle Mariners are what made him take a swing at the game.
Campbell is seen in a 2008 Fan Fest clip being interviewed. Three-year-old Campbell sits at the big broadcast desk and talked about how fun it was to run about the bases.
“It just shows that I’ve been a fan for so long,” Campbell said.
From t-ball to little league to traveling for the sport, his love for baseball stretched beyond the field and into the seats of the stadium.
His favorite all-time Mariners’ memory, is this magical season.
“Just the moment, to be able to do it as a walk-off homerun to end the 21-year drought, it’s just like a, it’s the picture-perfect thing,” Campbell said.
A special moment for a lifelong fan.
“I’m very excited. I’m very excited to see this team see how far they can go and just kind of have fun,” Campbell said.
Campbell is confident the Mariners’ success doesn’t end with clinching a wildcard spot.
“They’re doing it at the right time in the right way where it’s not going to be a ‘Mariners make the playoffs this year and then go however far they go and then stop,’ it’s going to be a hopefully a dynasty for a long time,” Campbell said.