The verve. The energy. The hope. You could feel it.

The Mariners, for the second time in a quarter-century, are playing playoff baseball. And their fans, waiting in line on Edgar Martinez Drive, at bars on Occidental Avenue, in the concourses of T-Mobile Park, are like kids who’ve been denied candy for 24 years.

“It is electric right now,” Riley Moore said, as he walked toward the stadium Saturday. It was well over three hours before first pitch. No matter. Moore drove in that morning from Spokane. He and some friends took the wrong exit getting off Interstate 90 — they were trying to get to an Airbnb — and ended up circling T-Mobile Park.

“Best wrong turn ever,” said Moore, a high school English teacher. It was six hours before the game. Vendors were setting up. Fans were beginning to

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