So despite the fact that their offseason was bad (disastrous, really), and despite the fact that I have no connection to the city of Seattle - I’ve never even been there! - I’ve been following this year’s Mariners. The combination of an up-and-coming roster, a long playoff drought, and a bold front office seemed intriguing. I assure you all that I started this before the season, too, although I’m not going to judge anyone for jumping on the bandwagon now that they’re in first place.
I don’t expect them to keep this up;
I don’t expect them to keep this up;
I’ve been having fun following them, so I figured I’d start this thread, even if I wind up as its sole contributor. To start the ball rolling, I’ll copy over what I said in the April Game Thread (lightly edited):
“They’re an interesting team. On the one hand, they’ve been outscored, and most of their young players are not playing very well right now. But Haniger is playing well, they get Lewis back this week, and they will get Kelenic soon enough, so there’s still some upside. If the rest of the kids start figuring it out, then they could be going places. They almost certainly won’t make the playoffs, but the role of “previously bad team who starts to get good ahead of schedule” is a plausible possibility - as long as DiPoto resists the temptation to go into sell mode.
I should point out that the opposite outcome, where they are bad enough to raise questions about the viability of this rebuild (and send the front office back to the drawing board) is also in play! Lots of possibilities here.”
Since I wrote that, they’ve gone 1-1, but it was against the Dodgers, so it feels like a moral victory. In 2021 Mariners fashion, both games were decided by one run. Next, conveniently, they play the Red Sox. I’ll add some more tomorrow if I get the chance before the game starts.
Finally, I workshopped a few different Seattle music references for the thread title before settling on this one. I don’t think it’s my best work, so I’m open to suggestions.
I don’t expect them to keep this up;
I don’t expect them to keep this up;
I’ve been having fun following them, so I figured I’d start this thread, even if I wind up as its sole contributor. To start the ball rolling, I’ll copy over what I said in the April Game Thread (lightly edited):
“They’re an interesting team. On the one hand, they’ve been outscored, and most of their young players are not playing very well right now. But Haniger is playing well, they get Lewis back this week, and they will get Kelenic soon enough, so there’s still some upside. If the rest of the kids start figuring it out, then they could be going places. They almost certainly won’t make the playoffs, but the role of “previously bad team who starts to get good ahead of schedule” is a plausible possibility - as long as DiPoto resists the temptation to go into sell mode.
I should point out that the opposite outcome, where they are bad enough to raise questions about the viability of this rebuild (and send the front office back to the drawing board) is also in play! Lots of possibilities here.”
Since I wrote that, they’ve gone 1-1, but it was against the Dodgers, so it feels like a moral victory. In 2021 Mariners fashion, both games were decided by one run. Next, conveniently, they play the Red Sox. I’ll add some more tomorrow if I get the chance before the game starts.
Finally, I workshopped a few different Seattle music references for the thread title before settling on this one. I don’t think it’s my best work, so I’m open to suggestions.
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