The 2016 Seattle Mariners (Official season edition)

[Glasgow Seahawk]

Up 9-8 now lol. Who are this mariners team?

 

[Chapow]

WOW!!!

What a game...

This team is just straight up fun to watch.

 

[Hawk-Lock]

Probably one of the most exciting and enjoyable Mariner games I've seen in some time.

 

[Chapow]

Wow, just awesome stuff. On a day when Felix shits the bed, the offense picks up the team and comes from 4 down to score 9 runs for a 9-8 win.

Mmm mmm mmm. Six series wins in a row and a series sweep of division rival Oakland.

:thirishdrinkers:

 

[Hawk-Lock]

It's funny that we finally give Felix good run support on a night when he is off. Great all around win, lets go for 7 straight series wins now. Houston here we come!

 

[Glasgow Seahawk]

Next series is big. I want to bury Houston and truly exorcise their bogey team curse on us. Plus the more the Astro's lose the less competition for the division.

On top of that the 2011 Mariners team won 6 series in a row then crapped the bed the rest of the year. I feel this team has more depth and stability than that team but would be good to remove that lingering doubt.

 

[sutz]

Marte for series MVP? He had a pretty good outing at the plate and some highlight reel stuff in the field.

:th2thumbs:

 

[IndyHawk]

Happy Felix day all..Great win!I don't know Dan HO is but keep doing it..GO M"S!!!

 

[Glasgow Seahawk]

The only team we play with a running record between now and june is Baltimore. Don't know if this is a good or bad thing.

Feel like they passed a big test today by not crumbling after that disastrous 5th inning.

Next test will be how they respond if the bullpen goes to crap for a few series. I don't think the bull pens form can be sustained long term so they may have to find other ways to win.

 

[Smelly McUgly]

I'm just glad that after years of having to sit and watch terrible baseball players like Yuniesky Betancourt and B(r)ad Miller at short that Ketel Marte looks like a winner. Apparently, he's eminently coachable, too, and after struggling at the plate early, took some good coaching advice from Edgar and immediately upped his line drive rate and started putting more quality hit balls in play. Good sign.

 

[FearTheBeak]

Who are these guys?

 

[kearly]

Remember 2-6? Worst opening homestand in team history? That was this year right?

 

[kearly]

In the American League, the Mariners are now:

1st in Home Runs
2nd in runs scored
3rd in Walks
4th in OPS

They are also 3rd in runs allowed.

And as of this moment:

The Mariners are #1 in the AL in run differential. One run better than the Chicago White Sox.

With all that said, I'm glad the Mariners are in the AL right now. The NL is crazy strong.

 

[hawksfansinceday1]

Wow this is fun.

 

[Crizilla]

that was the best win the m's have had since Ackley knocked in the game winning run vs boston in fenway few years ago

 

[Ruminator]

So far this season, my favorite things have been 1) Karns, 2) Cano's prolific hitting, 3) the new head coach, 4) hitters hitting well at opportune moments, Edgar presumably having a lot to do with that, and 5) the return of "TWO OUTS, SO WHAT?"

Just get to the post season, guys!

 

[Hawker]

...The Mariners are #1 in the AL in run differential. One run better than the Chicago White Sox.

With all that said, I'm glad the Mariners are in the AL right now. The NL is crazy strong.

We face the Cubs in July - if trends continue, that is going to be one hell of a series to watch. I just wish it were in Seattle.

I don't follow the NL all that much but just looking at the NL East teams, suffice it to say that division has a great chance of providing the champion this season.

 

[peppersjap]

Life has really been good since Howard Lincoln went away. This Is a very fun team to follow.

 

[kearly]

Did some digging on the Mariners batting stats.

The best hitter so far is Dae Ho Lee. He leads the team in both wOBA and wRC+. What's really cool too is that he's doing this despite having a very unlucky BABIP of .217 (league average is .296). It's very rare for a player to have a BABIP that is lower than his batting average (Lee is hitting .281), but the reason this is true for Lee is because home runs don't factor into BABIP and Lee has 4 home runs in just 35 plate appearances.

So in other words, Lee has been killing it in the appearances he's gotten, and as BABIP normalizes, his batting average will only get better. Of course, we probably can't expect him to hit a HR every 9 plate appearances much longer, but overall he's off to a terrific start. He's also, surprisingly, one of the best hitters on the team at avoiding strikeouts.

Cano, Cruz and Smith have all been really good, no shockers there. All have been good at avoiding strikeouts too. This is surprising for Cruz as he's a player known for striking out a lot.

Marte currently has an outstanding BABIP of .350, but his overall batting numbers are sunk by the fact that he isn't hitting for power. His defense and solid OBP make him a valuable player though. He's currently on pace for about 2.4 WAR.

Martin and Ianetta are surprisingly high on Seattle's WAR leaderboard. Martin is there because his defense is good and defense matters a ton at CF, Ianetta is there because catchers are generally bad hitters and he's slightly better than bad as a hitter.

Adam Lind is the biggest disaster for the Mariners so far. He has a league average BABIP, but a massive strikeout rate and a very low isolated slugging percentage. In other words, he's really bad with little indication that he is about to get better. He is really struggling. Franklin Gutierrez has a similarly bleak hitting profile, though he is not as harmful with his defense as LInd is.

Aoki, despite feeling like a solid player, currently has negative WAR. That said, his BB/K ratio is 2nd best on the team behind only Seth Smith, so there's a decent chance that Aoki's bat will warm up a bit as the season rolls on.

Seager has been getting killed by BABIP luck, but otherwise his bat looks just fine. His BB/K ratio and isolated slugging percentage aren't that far off from Robinson Cano's. Once his BABIP luck normalizes, he'll be just like the Kyle Seager we're familiar with. And his defense is still very good.

 

[kearly]

Altuve is a Mariner killer.

Great win today.