Happy birthday, Carlos Vargas.
Well, technically, belated birthday.
The Seattle Mariners' right-handed relief pitcher celebrated his birthday on Monday, a great day for it since the Mariners beat the Toronto Blue Jays to go up two games to none in the ALCS.
Vargas celebrated in style, too.
The righty came out of the bullpen to throw two scoreless innings.
With that, he became the sixth player in postseason history to throw at least two scoreless innings on his birthday.
Mariners PR provided the full list:
- Doc Crandall (1912)
- Rube Marquard (1920)
- Juan Cruz (2007)
- Jon Niese (2015)
- J.A. Happ (2019)
- Carlos Vargas (2025)
That 87-year gap is pretty wild.
MORE: Blake Snell joins Don Larsen in MLB playoff history
It's obviously a list that's going to be heavily dependent on when a player's birthday is. If it isn't in October, it's almost certainly not going to overlap with the playoffs.
Vargas, an Oct. 13 baby, was positioned well to have a chance at this.
He's not one of the highest-leverage relievers in Seattle's bullpen, but he got good usage in the blowout victory, and he probably earned himself another opportunity thanks to the solid outing.
Besides, you get wiser as you age, right? That can't hurt.
More MLB News:
- How Josh Naylor steals so many bases despite being so slow
- Mariners' 3 'J' sluggers deliver Twilight Zone-level feat
- Is that Blake Snell or Sandy Koufax?
- Guardians have a $6 million contract decision looming for former All Star
- Somehow, Mitch Garver is tied with Vince Coleman in MLB history
- Sal Frelick's height draws attention to Brewers centerfielder