It has been more than a decade since Seattle Mariners baseball games mattered with regards to the standings in the month of August.

The Mariners, who haven’t been to the postseason since their record breaking 116-win season in 2001, are in the thick of the American League wild card race as the month of August draws closer to a conclusion.

The inescapable fact that the Mariners playoff aspirations are very much alive at this juncture of the 2016 season takes me back in time. During the 1990s, the No. 1 sporting event of my childhood occurred on what was dubbed by baseball enthusiasts across the Western Washington region as “The Double.”

Edgar Martinez doubled down the left field line, scoring a hustling Ken Griffey Jr. from first base for the game-winning run in a 6-5 victory against the New York Yankees in Game 5 of the 1995 American League Division Series at the KingDome in Seattle.

September and October of 1995 were unforgettable months for Mariners fans in the Pacific Northwest. I will never forget playing hooky from Hawkins Middle School in Belfair as an eighth grader in order to attend the California Angels/Seattle Mariners one game playoff with my dad. My father passed away in 2004 and that game is forever etched in my mind as one of my fondest memories. Mariners’ ace Randy Johnson went the distance in a complete game gem, as the Mariners clinched the American League West 1995 Division title for the first time in franchise history.

I hope the Mariners can duplicate some of that 1995 magic this September and October. It would be an absolute dream come true if it came to fruition for our hometown baseball squad.

The emergence of closer Edwin Diaz, whose fast-ball typically is clocked at around 100 miles per hour, has played a pivotal factor in the Mariners success since the All-Star break. The Mariners have an absolute stopper at the closer position, which gives his team plenty of confidence to win those crucial one-run games. Mariners ace hurler Felix Hernandez is a surefire future Hall of Famer on the hill, but has never competed in a playoff game despite being a Major Leaguer for the past 12 seasons.

This could be the year “King Felix” gets his chance to shine on the grand stage of the MLB playoffs. I can’t wait to see how the final month of the regular season transpires.