Doolittle full of emotions in return
After the Mariners claimed him off waivers last month, Sean Doolittle said the first thing he did was look at Seattle’s remaining schedule — first, to figure out where to meet the team; second, to check when and where they next played the A’s.
Doolittle spent the first decade of his career in Oakland’s organization, including parts of six seasons with the A’s after a minor-league switch from first baseman to relief pitcher. He returned to the Coliseum on Monday for the first time since the A’s traded him to the Nationals at midseason in 2017.
“Seeing the (right-field) banners and just kind of remembering the bleacher crews in right field and left field, that was like the first thing that kind of caught my eye,” Doolittle said, standing on the field hours before first pitch.
“There are a lot of memories here. I grew up here, man. I came up with the A’s, I was 25, I didn’t know what I was doing. I’d been pitching for three months. I went through a lot here, good and bad. When I look out here, I see us winning the division in 2012 on the last day of the season. I see the good times and I see long days when I was rehabbing, trying to get healthy in ’15 and ’16.
“But it’s all part of it, man. It’s all part of it. And I’m so glad that I got to be here as long as I was and be around the people that are in this organization. It’s awesome to be back.”
Doolittle shot through the minors after his switch to pitcher in 2012 and was named an All-Star in 2014. He totaled a 3.09 ERA with 36 saves in 254 games with Oakland from 2012 through ’17. In July 2017, the A’s dealt Doolittle and Ryan Madson to Washington for Blake Treinen, Sheldon Neuse and Jesús Luzardo. Doolittle said part of Monday’s return was catching up with clubhouse staff and stadium workers.
“Because when you get traded, you don’t really get to make the rounds,” he said. “That day was kind of crazy. So this was really the first time I’ve seen people since the day I got traded.”
Doolittle won a World Series with the Nationals in 2019 and compiled a 3.03 ERA with 75 saves in four seasons with Washington. After an injuryshortened 2020 season, Doolittle signed with the Reds as a free agent. He posted a 4.46 ERA in 45 games before Cincinnati designated him for assignment in late August. The Mariners claimed him off waivers shortly thereafter. His first eight outings for Seattle produced a 6.75 ERA.
“It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster ride,” Doolittle said. “Last year was bad, and I worked really hard to come into this year after making some changes and it’s just been tough, just really inconsistent. I’ve had some really good outings where I felt like I was all the way back to where I was in 2018 and 2019 during the playoffs. But then I’ll go out there and I can’t get it to click for whatever reason.
“But I still love coming to the field every day and working on it, being around the guys. Being a part of this group in Seattle I think is great. And we’re still in it with two weeks left in the season.”
Entering Monday, the Mariners sat two games behind the A’s in the standings, both still alive for a wild-card spot, with seven games left between the two teams. Oakland was also the only team that Doolittle had not faced in the majors. In 2016, Doolittle was part of a last-place A’s team that ended Seattle’s wild-card hopes in the season’s final series — so he has experience in meaningful games between them.
“That was a really cool atmosphere to be part of in Seattle and Seattle’s trying to get back to the playoffs for the first time since ’01, so to have an opportunity to be a part of a group that could make some history there is pretty cool,” Doolittle said. “This season has felt long coming off a 60-game season. Everybody’s feeling it. To have something to play for down the stretch, to be in the mix, is really fun.”