Who guessed wrong about the Mariners’ surprising postseason chances? ESPN, for one.

The moment felt like a movie, or something you’d see on SportsCenter, Jarred Kelenic said.

With a T-Mobile Park crowd entirely on their feet in the sixth inning, the Mariners needed their 22-year-old center fielder to deliver. Down a run in what became a must-win game to keep pace in a crowded wild-card chase, Kelenic lasered a two-run double that sent Seattle in front and T-Mobile Park into a frenzy.

It was surreal, Kelenic told reporters after Wednesday night’s win. It’s something you’d see on television when you’re young.

“And when you’re just there, you can only just sit there and look around, soak it in.”

Fellow rookie Logan Gilbert watched Kelenic’s double from the dugout. For whatever reason, he had a feeling his teammate would deliver.

“It was awesome,” Gilbert said. “I couldn’t be more happy for him. I know how hard he works.”

Wednesday’s win featured a 24-year-old Gilbert on the mound, a 24-year-old catcher in Cal Raleigh, and a can-you-believe-it double from Kelenic, who turned 22 in July. Their team, aside from looming free-agent decisions on Kyle Seager, Mitch Haniger, and Tyler Anderson, consists of contract-controlled 27-and-unders at most positions.

“And that’s super exciting,” manager Scott Servais said. “If you’re a Mariners fan, or a part of this organization, you should feel very good about where we’re headed in our future.”

Three years ago, that wasn’t the case. An 89-73 campaign in 2018 fell short of the playoffs, and the Mariners fielded the oldest roster in baseball.

General manager Jerry Dipoto wanted to make a change. Servais and CEO John Stanton were on board. They traded away Edwin Diaz alongside an aging Robinson Cano (and the hefty $120 million remaining on his deal) for prospects in Jarred Kelenic and Justin Dunn. They moved All-Star shortstop Jean Segura to the Phillies and netted J.P. Crawford. Last season, Dipoto moved catcher Austin Nola in a seven-player deal that brought Ty France and Luis Torrens to the Mariners.

Even if the Mariners were headed for rebuild mode, they didn’t want to deem it one: a “step-back” or a “retooling” was more accurate, Dipoto suggested.

Earlier in the decade, Houston endured three consecutive 100-loss seasons en route to a World Series ring, but Seattle charted a different path. Instead of tearing their major league team down to the studs in exchange for a wealth of far-off prospects, the Mariners moved assets for near-ready major league talent that could produce sooner and bypass multiple losing seasons.

A last-place 68-94 finish was expected in 2019, and the Mariners finished their shortened 2020 season with a seemingly-better 27-33 record, but many weren’t ready to put the Mariners in playoff contention just yet.

As Sports Illustrated saw it, “fans have the call-up of top prospect Jarred Kelenic to look forward to and — not a whole lot else.”

ESPN’s preseason power rankings placed the Mariners at 25th, and projected just 70 wins for the club, a number the team reached on August 29.

“Mariners fans eagerly await the official arrival of top prospect Jarred Kelenic,” ESPN wrote. “Maybe that will be Opening Day; more likely, May or June. It can’t come soon enough.”

Though Kelenic’s double proved necessary for a much-needed win Wednesday, winning 89-plus games wasn’t considered a possibility by many. Even in ESPN’s “best-case scenario” segment, their most generous projection awarded the Mariners a low-80s finish in the win column.

“Our players don’t read or listen to any of that crap,” Servais said, laughing. “They don’t. I’ve said it to our players a couple different times … the only people that believe we would be in this position are the people in this room. And they really have. It’s a credit to our players.

“I can talk all I want, coaches can chirp all they want, (but) it’s ultimately up to the player to buy in. “They really believe in each other.”

Gilbert wanted to skip the drawn-out “traditional” rebuild, too. He never wanted the losing to be “this huge, five-years-down-the-road thing.”

“We surprised a lot of people that said we wouldn’t even be here right now, and here we are,” Gilbert said. “So the future is definitely bright here, but I also think right now is bright too. We have a real chance.”

Gilbert was Seattle’s first-round draft choice in 2018. Dipoto selected another pair of starting pitchers with his first-round selections in 2019 and 2020 in George Kirby and Emerson Hancock. Both should make their Seattle debuts next season.

Crawford was Philadelphia’s premier shortstop prospect before the Phillies dealt him to the Mariners. He knew of the now-20-year postseason drought in Seattle, and he wanted to be the player to end it.

“You want to be that guy to break that curse, or break the bad vibes over here,” Crawford said. “You want to be remembered, to be a legend in this city.”

And with three games to play, the Mariners have a chance to end that drought, and reach a milestone many thought was unfeasible this early.

Even with a minus-50 run differential through Thursday’s contests, Seattle rose to 19 games over .500, and have, at the very least, matched their 2018 record.

Their batting average (.226) ranks dead last in the majors, but are ninth when runners are in scoring position. Seattle’s starters are 19th in earned run average, but their bullpen ranks ninth in the same statistic, and has allowed the fourth-fewest walks in baseball.

“The group really bonds together,” Servais said. “It’s not one individual guy saying, ‘hey, jump on my back. I’m gonna take us to the promised land.’ It’s a group of guys just doing their job, working with each other, who really enjoy playing with each other.

“And we look up, we’re in a pretty good spot.”

Seattle’s worst-case scenario, according to ESPN before the season, was a 100-loss season and a last-place AL West finish. When they take the field Friday night, their updated worst-case scenario is a second-place finish in the division, just one game behind Boston for a wild-card spot.

“It’s not going to be easy,” Servais said on reaching the postseason. “It hasn’t been easy to this point. And there’s going to be a couple more obstacles in the road here over the next four or five days, there’s no question about it.

“Can we overcome it? For the most part this year, we’ve been able to.”